Breakdown of Siódmy rozdział jest krótszy niż czwarty.
być
to be
niż
than
krótszy
shorter
rozdział
the chapter
Questions & Answers about Siódmy rozdział jest krótszy niż czwarty.
Why is there no word for the in this sentence?
Polish does not have articles, so there is no separate word for the or a/an.
That means Siódmy rozdział can mean the seventh chapter or, depending on context, just seventh chapter. In normal use, the intended meaning is understood from the situation.
What are siódmy and czwarty exactly?
They are ordinal numbers: siódmy = seventh, czwarty = fourth.
In Polish, ordinal numbers behave like adjectives, so they change their form to match the noun they describe. Here they match rozdział.
- siódmy rozdział = seventh chapter
- czwarty rozdział = fourth chapter
Why do siódmy, krótszy, and czwarty all end in -y?
Because they are all agreeing with rozdział, which is:
- masculine
- singular
- nominative
So the forms are:
- siódmy — masculine singular nominative
- krótszy — masculine singular nominative
- czwarty — masculine singular nominative
If the noun were feminine, the forms would be different, for example:
- siódma część jest krótsza niż czwarta
Why is rozdział treated as masculine?