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Breakdown of Ta droga łączy się z ulicą przy szkole.
szkoła
the school
z
with
ta
this
ulica
the street
droga
the road
przy
by
łączyć się
to connect
Questions & Answers about Ta droga łączy się z ulicą przy szkole.
What does łączy się mean here?
łączyć się is the reflexive form of łączyć and means “to connect,” “to join,” or “to meet.” In this sentence it translates as “connects (with).”
Why is the verb used with -się? Can you just say łączy?
Without -się, łączyć is transitive (“to connect something”). Adding -się makes it intransitive: the subject (the road) connects on its own to something else. So droga łączy się z ulicą = “the road connects with the street.”
Why is z used before ulicą? Does z always mean “with”?
Here z means “with” in the sense of “connects with.” The preposition z (or its form ze before certain consonants) governs the instrumental case, so the noun that follows must be in the instrumental.
What case is ulicą and why?
It’s the instrumental singular of ulica. After z meaning “with,” Polish uses the instrumental case, hence ulica → ulicą.
What does przy mean in this sentence?
przy is a preposition meaning “by,” “near,” or “at” when indicating location. It tells you where the connection happens: near the school.
Why is szkoła changed to szkole?
Because przy takes the locative case. The locative singular of szkoła is szkole, so przy szkole = “by/near the school.”
Why is Ta placed before droga? Can you leave it out?
Ta is a demonstrative pronoun (“this”) specifying which road. You can omit it if context is clear, but without ta you’d just say Droga łączy się z ulicą… (“A/the road connects with the street…”).
Is the word order fixed? Could you say it differently?
Polish word order is quite flexible. You could say, for example,
– Droga ta łączy się z ulicą przy szkole.
– Z ulicą przy szkole łączy się ta droga.
These variations shift emphasis but keep the same meaning.
What’s the difference between droga and ulica?
Droga generally means “road” (often outside urban areas or main routes), while ulica means “street” (typically inside towns or cities). In your sentence, droga refers to a road that meets a street.
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