Learn Hardcore Polish: Ten nóż jest ostry.

Ten nóż ≈ this knife / that knife / the knife (context decides).
Polish doesn’t have articles like a or the, so ten often covers the meaning of this / that and can sometimes feel a bit like the (when both speaker and listener know which knife is meant).

So Ten nóż jest ostry most naturally reads as This knife is sharp (or That knife is sharp, depending on context).

Why is it ten and not to? I’ve seen To jest nóż before.

Ten and to are different words and play different roles:

Ten = this/that used before a masculine noun as an adjective:
- ten nóż – this/that knife
- ten dom – this/that house
To = this / it used as a separate pronoun, often in the pattern:
- To jest nóż. – This is a knife.
- To jest ostry nóż. – This is a sharp knife.

Compare:

Ten nóż jest ostry. – This knife is sharp.
To jest ostry nóż. – This is a sharp knife.

So you use ten when directly modifying a masculine noun, and to when you say This is … as a full sentence.

Why is it ten (ending in -en)? Does it change with gender?

Yes, ten changes with gender (and case). In the nominative singular:

Masculine: ten nóż – this knife
Feminine: ta książka – this book
Neuter: to krzesło – this chair

So we have ten nóż because nóż is a masculine noun. If the noun were feminine or neuter, we’d use ta or to instead.

What gender is nóż and how can I tell?

Nóż is masculine inanimate.

Rules of thumb:

Many masculine nouns end in a consonant in the basic (dictionary) form: dom, stół, pies, nóż.
Feminine nouns very often end in -a (e.g. kobieta, kawa) or sometimes a softened consonant (e.g. rzecz).
Neuter nouns often end in -o, -e, -ę, -um (e.g. okno, morze, imię, muzeum).

Because nóż ends in a consonant and refers to an inanimate object, it’s masculine inanimate.

Which case is nóż in here, and why?

Nóż is in the nominative singular case.

Reason: with the verb być (to be) in simple identifying or describing sentences in the present tense, both sides are in the nominative:

Ten nóż (nom.) jest ostry (nom.).
Ten kot (nom.) jest mały (nom.). – This cat is small.
Mój brat (nom.) jest lekarzem (nom.). – My brother is a doctor.

So nóż is nominative because it’s the subject, and ostry is nominative because it agrees with that subject.

What does jest do here? Is it always necessary?

Jest is the 3rd person singular present tense of być (to be). Here it links the subject to its description:

Ten nóż – subject
jest – is
ostry – predicate adjective (sharp)

In standard full sentences like this, you keep jest:

Ten nóż jest ostry. – This knife is sharp.

You can drop jest in very informal, telegraphic, or headline-like language:

Nóż ostry. – (on a label or sign: Knife sharp) But in normal spoken or written sentences, especially as a learner, you should keep jest.

Why is ostry ending in -y? How does it agree with nóż?

Ostry is an adjective meaning sharp. In Polish, adjectives agree with the noun in:

Gender
Number
Case

Here, nóż is:

masculine
singular
nominative

The matching form of ostry is:

ostry (masc. sg. nom.)

Compare other genders in nominative singular:

Masculine: ostry nóż – sharp knife
Feminine: ostra igła – sharp needle
Neuter: ostre narzędzie – sharp tool

So ostry ends with -y because it’s masculine singular nominative, matching nóż.

Could I say Nóż jest ostry without ten? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say Nóż jest ostry.

Ten nóż jest ostry. – This (specific) knife is sharp.
You’re clearly pointing to or specifying one particular knife.
Nóż jest ostry. – Could be:
- The knife is sharp. (if context makes it clear which knife), or
- A knife is sharp. / Knives are sharp in general. (generic statement).

Polish doesn’t have a / the, so adding ten is one way to show you mean this particular knife.

Can I change the word order, like Ostry jest ten nóż or Ten ostry nóż jest?

Word order in Polish is relatively flexible, but not all orders are equally natural in everyday speech.

Neutral, most common:
- Ten nóż jest ostry. – default and best to learn first.
Acceptable but marked for emphasis:
- Ostry jest ten nóż. – Emphasises ostry (Sharp is this knife, maybe contrasting with a dull one).
- Ten nóż ostry jest. – Possible but sounds poetic / stylised, not everyday.
Ten ostry nóż jest … needs something more after jest; as it stands, it’s incomplete:
- Ten ostry nóż jest nowy. – This sharp knife is new.

As a learner, stick with Ten nóż jest ostry as the normal pattern.

How do I pronounce nóż and what do ó and ż sound like?

Nóż is pronounced approximately like [noosh], but with Polish sounds:

n – like English n.
ó – pronounced like Polish u, similar to oo in boot: [u].
ż – usually [ʐ] (like the s in measure), but at the end of the word it’s devoiced to [ʂ], like sh in shoe, but a bit harder.

So phonetically: nóż ≈ [nuʂ].

Spelling notes:

ó is pronounced like u, it just has a different historical spelling.
ż and rz are pronounced the same in modern standard Polish ([ʐ]).

Where is the stress in Ten nóż jest ostry?

Polish almost always stresses the second-to-last syllable (penultimate syllable).

In Ten nóż jest ostry:

Ten – one syllable
nóż – one syllable
jest – one syllable
os-try – two syllables

The only multi-syllable word is ostry, and its stress is on os:

OS-try

So: TEN NÓŻ JEST OS-try (stress on TEN, NÓŻ, JEST, and OS- because each is a one-syllable word or the stressed syllable of a two-syllable word).

How would I say This is a sharp knife using these words?

You’d normally say:

To jest ostry nóż. – This is a sharp knife.

Notice the pattern:

To – this / it (neutral pronoun)
jest – is
ostry nóż – sharp knife (adjective + noun)

Compare:

Ten nóż jest ostry. – This knife is sharp. (You’re talking about a known knife.)
To jest ostry nóż. – This is a sharp knife. (You’re identifying what this is.)

How do I make a comparative like This knife is sharper?

The comparative of ostry (sharp) is ostrzejszy (sharper).

So:

Ten nóż jest ostrzejszy. – This knife is sharper.
Ten nóż jest ostrzejszy od tamtego. – This knife is sharper than that one.

Patterns:

ostry → ostrzejszy (sharp → sharper)
tępy → tępszy (dull → duller)

The structure of the sentence stays the same; only the adjective form changes.