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Learn Hardcore Polish: Ten blok jest wysoki. - This apartment building is tall.

Hardcore Polish
/Lesson 26
/Ten blok jest wysoki.

Ten blok jest wysoki.

Word

Ten blok jest wysoki.

Meaning

This apartment building is tall.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Polish

Lesson

Breakdown of Ten blok jest wysoki.

the apartment building

Questions & Answers about Ten blok jest wysoki.

What does ten mean here, and how is it different from to or tamten?

Ten means this (masculine, singular) and points to something that is relatively close or clear from context: ten blok = this block.

to can mean:
- this/that as a pronoun on its own: To jest blok. = This is a block.
- It is also the neuter form of ten / ta / to used with neuter nouns.
tamten means that (one over there) and usually suggests more physical or mental distance: Tamten blok jest wysoki. = That block (over there) is tall.

So:

ten blok – this block (near / current topic)
tamten blok – that block (further away / different one)
to – this/that when used alone: To jest blok.

Why is it ten blok, not ta blok or to blok?

Because blok is grammatically masculine singular.

Polish demonstratives must agree with the noun’s gender and number:

ten – masculine singular (e.g. ten blok, ten dom)
ta – feminine singular (e.g. ta ulica, ta szkoła)
to – neuter singular (e.g. to okno, to mieszkanie)
ci / te – masculine personal plural / non‑masculine plural

Since blok is masculine, you must use ten: ten blok.

How do I know that is masculine?

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blok

Some rules of thumb:

Most nouns ending in a hard consonant (like k) are masculine:
- blok (block) – masculine
- dom (house) – masculine
- stół (table) – masculine
Feminine nouns usually end in -a (e.g. ulica, szkoła).
Neuter nouns usually end in -o, -e, or -ę (e.g. okno, morze, imię).

Blok ends in a consonant, therefore it’s treated as masculine inanimate.

Why is the adjective wysoki and not wysoka or wysokie?

In Polish, adjectives must agree with the noun in:

gender
number
case

Here, blok is:

masculine
singular
nominative

The matching adjective form is therefore wysoki:

masculine singular: wysoki blok
feminine singular: wysoka ulica
neuter singular: wysokie okno
plural (non‑masculine‑personal): wysokie budynki
plural (masculine‑personal): wysocy mężczyźni (tall men)

So with blok it must be wysoki, not wysoka or wysokie.

What role does jest play in this sentence?

Jest is the 3rd person singular present tense of być (to be).
It links the subject (ten blok) to the description (wysoki).

Literally: Ten blok (this block) jest (is) wysoki (tall).

In standard Polish, you normally do not omit jest in this type of sentence.
Without it, Ten blok wysoki sounds poetic, telegraphic, or just wrong in everyday speech.

Can I change the word order? For example, say Blok jest wysoki or Wysoki jest ten blok?

Yes, Polish allows relatively free word order, but it affects emphasis:

Ten blok jest wysoki. – neutral, slight focus on this block.
Blok jest wysoki. – neutral, more general: The block is tall.
Ten wysoki blok jest nowy. – ten wysoki blok as one noun phrase: This tall block is new.
Wysoki jest ten blok. – marked word order, emphasizes wysoki: more like Tall, this block is / It’s tall, this block (stylistic, poetic, or contrastive).

For a simple neutral statement, Ten blok jest wysoki or Blok jest wysoki are best.

What case are blok and wysoki in, and why?

Both are in the nominative singular masculine:

blok – nominative singular (subject)
wysoki – nominative singular masculine (predicate adjective)

In Polish to be sentences of the type X is Y (an adjective), both the subject and the adjective are usually in the nominative:

Ten blok jest wysoki.
Ta ulica jest długa.
To okno jest otwarte.

If you change the sentence to use a different case, everything must adjust.
For example: I see this tall block = Widzę ten wysoki blok.
Here blok and wysoki are in the accusative.

How would I say These blocks are tall using the same words?

You need the plural forms of the demonstrative, noun, verb, and adjective:

Te bloki są wysokie.

Breakdown:

te – plural these for non‑masculine‑personal nouns (blocks are non‑personal)
bloki – plural of blok
są – 3rd person plural of być (they are)
wysokie – plural non‑masculine‑personal form of wysoki

So: Te bloki są wysokie. = These blocks are tall.

What is the difference between Ten blok jest wysoki and To jest wysoki blok?

They are close in meaning but not identical in structure or focus:

Ten blok jest wysoki.
- Literally: This block is tall.
- ten blok is clearly the subject.
- You’re stating a property of a specific, known block.
To jest wysoki blok.
- Literally: This is a tall block.
- to is a pronoun (this/that), and wysoki blok is what this is.
- Common when first identifying something: What is that? – To jest wysoki blok.

So:

describing a known block: Ten blok jest wysoki.
identifying something you see: To jest wysoki blok.

How do I pronounce Ten blok jest wysoki?

Approximate pronunciation for an English speaker:

Ten – like ten in English.
blok – like block without the final c sound: blok.
jest – like yest (as in yesterday without erday).
wysoki – roughly vi-SAW-kee:
- wy – like vi in villa, or wi in will but a bit tenser.
- so – like English saw without a strong w.
- ki – kee.

Stress is always on the second-to-last syllable in each word with more than one syllable:
wy-SO-ki.

What’s the difference between blok, budynek, and dom?

All can be translated as building or house, but they differ:

blok – usually an apartment block / block of flats, especially multi‑storey concrete buildings common in Polish cities.
budynek – neutral building (any kind of building).
dom – house, or home (also used emotionally, like my home).

So Ten blok jest wysoki most naturally refers to a tall apartment block, not just any building.

Can the adjective come after the noun, like Ten blok wysoki jest?

In everyday Polish, no — that sounds strange or poetic.

The natural neutral order is:

demonstrative (optional) + adjective (optional) + noun + jest
- adjective
  e.g. Ten blok jest wysoki.

Adjectives usually come before the noun in noun phrases:

wysoki blok, stary dom, ładna ulica

Placing the adjective after the noun (blok wysoki) is possible in poetry, slogans, or very stylized speech, but it is not standard conversational Polish.

How would I say This block is very tall?

Just add the adverb bardzo (very) before the adjective:

Ten blok jest bardzo wysoki.

Pattern:

subject + jest + bardzo + adjective
- On jest bardzo wysoki. – He is very tall.
- Ta wieża jest bardzo wysoka. – This/that tower is very tall.

How do I make the sentence negative: This block is not tall?

Add nie (not) directly before jest:

Ten blok nie jest wysoki. – This block is not tall.

In to be sentences with adjectives, the nie typically goes before the verb, not before the adjective:

nie jest wysoki – is not tall
Not: jest nie wysoki (this sounds unnatural except in special emphatic contexts).

What are the full present tense forms of być (to be), to understand jest better?

Present tense of być:

(ja) jestem – I am
(ty) jesteś – you are (singular, informal)
(on/ona/ono) jest – he / she / it is
(my) jesteśmy – we are
(wy) jesteście – you are (plural)
(oni/one) są – they are

So in Ten blok jest wysoki, jest is the 3rd person singular: it is (the block is).

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