Questions & Answers about Ten blok stoi obok parku.
Why is it ten blok and not ta blok or to blok?
In Polish, demonstrative pronouns like ten / ta / to must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
- blok is a masculine inanimate noun.
- The basic forms of this are:
So with blok you must use ten: ten blok.
If the noun were feminine (e.g. ulica – street), you would say ta ulica; if neuter (e.g. miasto – city), to miasto.
What exactly does blok mean here? Is it just “block”?
In Polish, blok usually means an apartment building, often a multi-storey block of flats (especially the kind common in cities and housing estates).
It doesn’t normally mean:
- a city block
- a physical block like a block of wood (that would usually be klocek, blok drewna, etc.)
So Ten blok stoi obok parku normally means:
This apartment building stands next to the park.
Why is the verb stoi used instead of jest?