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Questions & Answers about Mój telewizor jest zepsuty.
Why is mój used instead of moje or moja?
Polish possessive pronouns agree in gender, number and case with the noun they modify. Telewizor is a masculine singular noun in the nominative case, so you use the masculine nominative form mój (“my”).
How do I know that telewizor is masculine?
Most Polish nouns ending in a consonant are masculine. In addition, telewizor refers to an inanimate object, so it follows the pattern of masculine inanimate nouns.
Why does zepsuty end with -y?
Zepsuty is a past passive participle functioning as an adjective meaning broken. Adjectives in Polish must agree with their noun in gender, number and case. Here, zepsuty takes the masculine singular nominative ending -y to match telewizor.
Why is the verb jest necessary? Can I drop it?
In a full standard sentence with an adjectival predicate, you need the linking verb jest (“is”) to connect the subject and the adjective. Omitting it would sound like a fragment (e.g. Telewizor zepsuty). Informally you might hear that, but grammatically you need Mój telewizor jest zepsuty.
How would I say “My TV broke” instead of “My TV is broken”?
Use the perfective reflexive verb zepsuć się in the past tense: Mój telewizor zepsuł się. That literally means “My TV broke itself,” which is how Polish expresses “it broke.”
Where is the stress in telewizor and how is it pronounced?
Polish stress falls almost always on the penultimate syllable. Telewizor is pronounced te-le-ˈwi-zor, so the stress is on wi: tele-WI-zor.
Is zepsuty the only way to say broken? What about uszkodzony?
Both zepsuty and uszkodzony can mean broken or damaged, but there’s a nuance. Zepsuty emphasizes that something doesn’t work at all (it’s completely broken), while uszkodzony is more general and can refer to any damage (minor scratches up to serious malfunction).
What’s the difference between the verbs psuć and zepsuć?
Psuć is imperfective (“to spoil, ruin, go bad”) and can describe an ongoing process (psuje się = “it’s breaking down”). Zepsuć is perfective (“to break, spoil”) and describes a completed action (zepsuł się = “it broke”).