Breakdown of Deser pachnie wanilią i smakuje słodko; moja córka go uwielbia.
mój
my
i
and
smakować
to taste
go
it
córka
the daughter
deser
the dessert
pachnieć
to smell
wanilia
the vanilla
słodko
sweetly
uwielbiać
to love
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Questions & Answers about Deser pachnie wanilią i smakuje słodko; moja córka go uwielbia.
Why is wanilią in the instrumental case rather than the nominative wanilia?
The verb pachnie (“smells of”) requires the instrumental case to indicate what something smells like. So pachnie wanilią literally means “it smells with vanilla,” which we translate as “it smells of vanilla.”
Why is słodko an adverb and not the adjective słodki?
With taste verbs like smakuje (“tastes”), Polish uses an adverb to describe how something tastes. Słodko (“sweetly”) tells you the manner of tasting. If you wanted to use an adjective, you’d say something like Deser jest słodki (“The dessert is sweet”).
What does the pronoun go refer to, and why is it placed before the verb?
Go is the masculine singular direct-object pronoun referring back to deser (a masculine noun). In Polish you can place object pronouns before or after the verb—moja córka go uwielbia or moja córka uwielbia go—but putting them before the verb is very common in neutral statements.
Why do we use moja instead of mój in moja córka?
Possessive pronouns agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Córka is feminine singular, so the correct form is moja (“my” in feminine), not mój (masculine).
What purpose does the semicolon (;) serve between the two clauses?
A semicolon links two closely related independent clauses more strongly than a comma but less finally than a period. Here it connects Deser pachnie wanilią i smakuje słodko with moja córka go uwielbia to show they’re part of the same thought.
What is the infinitive of uwielbia, and how is its 3rd-person singular formed?
The infinitive is uwielbiać (“to adore” or “to love”). Drop the -ć and add -a for 3rd-person singular present: uwielbia = “he/she/it adores.”
Could we replace uwielbiać with lubić in this sentence?
Yes—but with a change in intensity. Lubić means “to like,” while uwielbiać means “to love” or “to adore.” So moja córka go lubi = “my daughter likes it,” whereas moja córka go uwielbia = “my daughter loves it.”
Is the word order fixed in moja córka go uwielbia, or can we change it for emphasis?
Polish word order is flexible. Moj a córka go uwielbia is neutral, but you might say Go moja córka uwielbia to emphasize it, or Uwielbia moja córka go to stress the action.