Podwórko za kamienicą jest ciche rano.

The courtyard behind the tenement building is quiet in the morning.

Breakdown of Podwórko za kamienicą jest ciche rano.

• być: to be
• rano: in the morning
• cichy: quiet
• za: behind

Questions & Answers about Podwórko za kamienicą jest ciche rano.

Why is it podwórko, and what gender is that noun?

Podwórko means courtyard or yard, and it is a neuter noun in Polish.

You can often recognize neuter nouns because many of them end in -o or -e. Since podwórko is neuter singular, any adjective describing it must also be in the neuter singular form, which is why we get ciche.

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Why is it za kamienicą and not za kamienica?

Because the preposition za can require different cases depending on meaning.

Here it means behind in a location sense, so it takes the instrumental case:

• kamienica = base form, nominative
• kamienicą = instrumental singular

So:

• za kamienicą = behind the building

If za expresses motion to a place, it often takes the accusative instead, but in this sentence it describes location, not movement.

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What does kamienica mean exactly?