Mam dowód rejestracyjny.

to have

Breakdown of Mam dowód rejestracyjny.

• dowód rejestracyjny: the vehicle registration certificate

Questions & Answers about Mam dowód rejestracyjny.

What does mam mean, and what verb does it come from?

Mam means I have. It is the 1st person singular form of the verb mieć (to have).

So:

• mieć = to have
• mam = I have

This is one of the most common Polish verbs, so it is worth learning early.

Why is there no word for I in the sentence?

In Polish, subject pronouns are often omitted when they are not needed.

The ending of the verb already tells you who the subject is:

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

So Mam dowód rejestracyjny already clearly means I have a registration certificate/document without needing ja.

You can say Ja mam dowód rejestracyjny, but that usually adds emphasis, like I do have it or I have it.

What case is dowód rejestracyjny in here?

It is in the accusative, because it is the direct object of mam.

However, this can be confusing, because for masculine inanimate nouns in Polish, the accusative often looks exactly the same as the nominative.

So:

• dowód rejestracyjny = nominative
• mam dowód rejestracyjny = accusative in function, but the form stays the same

That is why nothing visibly changes here.