Learn Hardcore Polish: Ten bohater jest samotny.

Ten bohater = this/that hero (a specific one we have in mind).
Polish has no article like the, so ten often covers part of what the does in English: it points to a particular, identifiable hero.

Context decides whether you translate it as this, that, or the in natural English.

Can I omit ten and just say Bohater jest samotny?

Yes, you can:

Ten bohater jest samotny – This/that (specific) hero is lonely.
Bohater jest samotny – The hero is lonely / A hero is lonely (more general or less pointed to one specific person).

So:

With ten, you clearly signal a specific hero already known from context.
Without ten, it can sound more generic, or like you’re describing a hero type in general, depending on context.

Why is the adjective samotny at the end and not before the noun, like samotny bohater?

Polish has two main patterns:

Attributive adjective (directly before the noun):
- samotny bohater = a lonely hero (used as part of the noun phrase, like English).
Predicative adjective (after jest):
- Ten bohater jest samotny = This hero is lonely.

Your sentence uses pattern 2: subject (Ten bohater) + verb (jest) + complement (samotny).
So samotny is not describing the noun directly, but acting as a complement of the verb jest (is), just like in English is lonely.

Why is it samotny, not samotna or samotni?

Adjectives in Polish agree with the noun in:

Gender
Number
Case

Here:

bohater is masculine, singular, nominative (subject form).
So samotny must also be masculine singular nominative.

Other forms would be:

Feminine singular: samotna (for bohaterka – a female hero).
- Ta bohaterka jest samotna.
Neuter singular: samotne (e.g. to dziecko jest samotne – this child is lonely).
Masculine personal plural: samotni (e.g. ci bohaterowie są samotni – these heroes are lonely).
Non-masculine-personal plural: samotne (e.g. te zwierzęta są samotne – these animals are lonely).

In your sentence, masculine singular bohater → masculine singular samotny.

What’s the difference between samotny, samotnie, and sam?

They are related but not the same:

samotny – adjective, lonely
- Describes a state or quality of a person:
  - On jest samotny. – He is lonely.
samotnie – adverb, lonely / alone-ly / in loneliness
- Describes how someone does something:
  - On mieszka samotnie. – He lives alone / in a lonely way.
sam – adjective/pronoun, usually alone (physically, by oneself)
- Focuses on being without company, not necessarily feeling lonely:
  - On jest sam w domu. – He is alone at home.
- You can be sam, but not feel samotny.

So in Ten bohater jest samotny, the idea is emotional loneliness, not just physical aloneness.

Why do we use jest here? Can I say Ten bohater to samotny bohater instead?

Jest is the 3rd person singular form of być (to be).

Ten bohater jest samotny. – focuses on his current state:
- This hero is lonely.

You can say:

Ten bohater to samotny bohater. – literally This hero is a lonely hero.

The second sentence:

Uses to as an equational marker (kind of like is).
Sounds a bit more like a definition or label: this hero is (a) lonely hero, describing what kind of hero he is.

Both are correct, but:

jest samotny = typical way to say is lonely (state).
to samotny bohater = emphasizes his type/identity as a lonely hero.

Could I change the word order to Samotny jest ten bohater?

Yes, but the nuance changes:

Ten bohater jest samotny. – neutral, most natural order.
Samotny jest ten bohater. – more expressive, poetic, or emphatic.

Putting samotny at the beginning adds emphasis to lonely:

Something like: Lonely – that’s what this hero is.

It’s not wrong, but it’s stylistically marked. In everyday speech, the original order is far more common.

Sometimes Polish drops jest in the present tense (e.g. On lekarz). Can I say Ten bohater samotny without jest?

In modern standard Polish:

With nouns, you can often omit jest in the present tense:
- On jest lekarzem. → On lekarz. (He is a doctor.)
With adjectives, you normally keep jest:
- On jest zmęczony. (He is tired.)
- On zmęczony. – sounds incomplete or very colloquial/poetic.

So:

Ten bohater jest samotny. – correct and normal.
Ten bohater samotny. – can appear in poetry, headlines, or very stylized language, but sounds incomplete as a standard sentence.

For learners, always include jest here.

Why is it bohater and samotny, not bohatera and samotnego?

Because the sentence uses the nominative case:

Subject (Ten bohater) → nominative.
Predicative adjective after jest (samotny) → also nominative.

In contrast, with nouns after jest, Polish usually uses instrumental:

On jest bohaterem. – He is a hero.
- bohaterem is instrumental.

But with adjectives like samotny, you keep nominative:

On jest samotny. – He is lonely.
Not samotnym in this structure.

So:

Subject + jest
- adjective complement → both nominative: bohater / samotny.

Is bohater always masculine? How would I say this (female) hero is lonely?

Bohater is grammatically masculine.
The feminine form is bohaterka (heroine / female hero).

So for a female hero:

Ta bohaterka jest samotna. – This (female) hero is lonely.

Notice the agreement:

ta (feminine this)
bohaterka (feminine noun)
samotna (feminine form of samotny)

Is there a difference between ten bohater and tamten bohater?

Yes:

ten bohater – this hero or sometimes that hero, usually someone closer in context (physically, or in the story we’re focused on).
tamten bohater – more clearly that hero (over there / that other one), often contrasting with another hero.

Example:

Ten bohater jest samotny, a tamten jest szczęśliwy.
- This hero is lonely, and that one is happy.

Both are demonstratives, but tamten is more strongly that (other one).