Breakdown of Jej marzeniem jest zostać kucharzem w słynnej restauracji.
być
to be
w
in
restauracja
the restaurant
słynny
famous
kucharz
the chef
jej
her
marzenie
the dream
zostać
to become
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Questions & Answers about Jej marzeniem jest zostać kucharzem w słynnej restauracji.
What is the role of jej in this sentence? Why not ona?
jej is a possessive pronoun (her) used to modify marzenie. It stands in the genitive to mean “the dream of her.” ona is a subject pronoun meaning “she” and cannot function as a possessive adjective before marzenie.
Why is marzeniem in the instrumental case instead of the nominative marzenie?
After the linking verb jest, the noun indicating identity or role takes the instrumental case. This is the same pattern as in On jest lekarzem (“He is a doctor”). Hence marzeniem (not marzenie).
Why is there no article before kucharzem or restauracji?
Polish does not have definite or indefinite articles like a or the. Nouns stand alone, and definiteness or indefiniteness is inferred from context or word order rather than special words.
Why is kucharzem in the instrumental case?
The verb zostać (“to become”) requires its complement—the new role or status—to be in the instrumental. You always say zostać + noun(instrumental), for example zostać nauczycielem, zostać prezydentem, zostać kucharzem.
Why is zostać used here instead of być or stać się?
- zostać emphasizes the process or result of becoming something, often in a future-oriented sense (“to take on a role”).
- być simply states a state of being (“to be”).
- stać się is more formal or literary for “to become.”
In everyday Polish, zostać is the natural choice for “to become.”
Why is it w słynnej restauracji and not another case after w?
The preposition w meaning “in” takes the locative case when indicating location. Feminine singular locative of słynna is słynnej, and of restauracja is restauracji, so you get w słynnej restauracji.
Could we say kucharką instead of kucharzem since jej refers to a woman?
Yes. Modern Polish allows feminine job titles, so zostać kucharką is perfectly natural if the dreamer is female. The masculine form kucharzem remains common as a generic or traditional form.
Can the word order be changed? For example, Zostać kucharzem w słynnej restauracji jest jej marzeniem?
You can invert the clause for stylistic or poetic effect, but it’s less common in everyday speech. The neutral, most natural order is Jej marzeniem jest zostać….
Could we use bycie instead of the infinitive zostać?
You could say Jej marzeniem jest bycie kucharzem w słynnej restauracji, but this sounds more formal or abstract. Native speakers typically prefer zostać + [instrumental] for a natural expression of “to become.”