Ten ser ma zbyt ostry zapach.

to have

Breakdown of Ten ser ma zbyt ostry zapach.

• ten: this
• ser: the cheese
• zbyt: too

Questions & Answers about Ten ser ma zbyt ostry zapach.

What does ten mean here, and why is it ten?

Ten means this.

It’s the masculine singular nominative form of the demonstrative ten / ta / to.

It matches ser (cheese), which is:

• masculine
• singular
• the subject of the sentence

So:

• ten ser = this cheese

If the noun were feminine or neuter, the form would change:

• ta zupa = this soup
• to mleko = this milk

Why is it ser, not sera?

Because ser is the subject of the sentence, so it stays in the nominative case.

In Ten ser ma zbyt ostry zapach, the cheese is the thing that has the smell.

• ser = nominative singular
• sera can be genitive singular, or accusative singular for some animate masculine nouns, but not here

So:

• Ten ser = correct
• Ten sera = incorrect in this sentence

What does ma mean?