Breakdown of Bardzo mnie cieszy, że dzieci dobrze się bawią na placu zabaw.
bardzo
very
dziecko
the child
na
at
że
that
Questions & Answers about Bardzo mnie cieszy, że dzieci dobrze się bawią na placu zabaw.
What is the basic grammatical structure of this sentence?
It is built like this:
- Bardzo = very / very much
- mnie = me
- cieszy = pleases / makes happy
- że... = that...
- dzieci dobrze się bawią na placu zabaw = the children are having fun on the playground
So the structure is roughly:
[Very much] + [me] + [pleases] + [that-clause]
A very literal English version would be:
It pleases me very much that the children are having fun on the playground.
That is why it does not look like a typical English I am happy... sentence.
Why is it mnie cieszy instead of cieszę się?
Because Polish has two related but different patterns:
- cieszyć kogoś = to please someone / make someone happy
- cieszyć się = to be happy / glad
In your sentence, the pattern is:
- To mnie cieszy = That pleases me / That makes me happy
So:
Bardzo mnie cieszy, że dzieci dobrze się bawią...
= It makes me very happy that the children are having fun...
If you wanted a version closer to I’m very happy that..., you could say:
Bardzo się cieszę, że dzieci dobrze się bawią na placu zabaw.
Both are correct, but they are structured differently.
Why is it mnie and not mi?