Diagnosta mierzy bieżnik.

to measure

Breakdown of Diagnosta mierzy bieżnik.

• diagnosta: the authorised vehicle inspector
• bieżnik: the tire tread

Questions & Answers about Diagnosta mierzy bieżnik.

Why does diagnosta end in -a if it refers to a male person?

Because some Polish masculine nouns, especially job titles and personal nouns, end in -a. Diagnosta is one of them.

So even though it looks feminine at first sight, it is grammatically masculine when it refers to a man:

• ten diagnosta = this diagnostician / inspector
• dobry diagnosta = a good diagnostician / inspector

This is similar to words like mężczyzna (man) or kolega (male friend / colleague), which are also masculine even though they end in -a.

What form is mierzy?

Mierzy is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb mierzyć.

So:

• ja mierzę = I measure / I am measuring
• ty mierzysz = you measure
• on / ona mierzy = he / she measures

In this sentence, mierzy agrees with the singular subject diagnosta.

Why is bieżnik not changed? Shouldn't the object have a different ending?

Bieżnik is the direct object, so it is in the accusative case. But for many masculine inanimate nouns in Polish, the accusative singular looks exactly the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: bieżnik
• accusative: bieżnik

That is why the word does not visibly change here.