Ten kwiat pięknie pachnie.

This flower smells lovely.

Breakdown of Ten kwiat pięknie pachnie.

• ten: this
• pachnieć: to smell
• pięknie: beautifully
• kwiat: flower

Questions & Answers about Ten kwiat pięknie pachnie.

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

Ten means this.

It appears as ten because kwiat is:

• masculine
• singular
• in the nominative case (the subject form)

In Polish, this changes depending on gender and case:

• ten = this (masculine)
• ta = this (feminine)
• to = this (neuter)

So:

• ten kwiat = this flower

Why is kwiat in this form?

Kwiat is the basic dictionary form here because it is the subject of the sentence.

The sentence is about what the flower does, so Polish uses the nominative case:

• kwiat = flower

If the noun had a different role in the sentence, its form might change:

• Widzę kwiat. = I see a flower.
• Nie ma kwiatu. = There is no flower.

But in Ten kwiat pięknie pachnie, kwiat is the subject, so kwiat stays in the nominative.

What does pięknie mean here, and why isn’t it piękny?