Mój brat ma trzydzieści lat.

to have

Breakdown of Mój brat ma trzydzieści lat.

• mój: my
• brat: the brother
• rok: the year

Questions & Answers about Mój brat ma trzydzieści lat.

What does mój mean, and why is it mój here instead of moja or moje?

Mój means my.

It changes form to agree with the noun it describes. Since brat is a masculine singular noun in the nominative case, the correct form is mój.

Compare:

• mój brat = my brother
• moja siostra = my sister
• moje dziecko = my child

So the form of my depends on the gender, number, and case of the noun.

Why is brat in this form?

Brat is the subject of the sentence, so it appears in the nominative case, which is the dictionary form.

In this sentence:

• mój brat = the person being talked about
• ma = the verb
• trzydzieści lat = the age expression

Because brother is doing the action of having, Polish uses the nominative form brat.

What form is ma?

Ma is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb mieć, which means to have.

So:

• mam = I have
• masz = you have
• ma = he/she/it has

Here, ma matches mój brat, because my brother is he.