Sensory verbs take adverbs
In English, verbs of perception like "to look," "to sound," or "to smell" take adjectives (e.g., "The soup smells good", "You look elegant").
In Polish, these verbs must be followed by an adverb. A literal translation of the Polish structure would be "The soup smells well" or "You look elegantly".
Here are the main sensory verbs you will use:
- wyglądać (to look)
- brzmieć (to sound)
- pachnieć (to smell)
- śmierdzieć (to stink)
- smakować (to taste)
Notice how the descriptive words in the following examples end in -o or -e, which are the standard endings for Polish adverbs.
| This soup smells appetizing. | Ta zupa pachnie apetycznie. |
| Why does this cake taste artificial? | Dlaczego to ciasto smakuje sztucznie? |
| This meat smells suspicious. | To mięso śmierdzi podejrzanie. |
Describing aesthetics and ambiance
This rule applies perfectly to describing how situations, offers, or people come across. Whether someone looks elegant (elegancko), an offer sounds tempting (kusząco), or a situation feels familiar (znajomo), you will always use the adverb form.
| Evidently, you want to look elegant today. | Najwyraźniej chcesz dzisiaj wyglądać elegancko. |
| What are you going there for? That sounds suspicious. | Po co tam idziesz? To brzmi podejrzanie. |
| This offer sounds tempting, unless it is a scam. | Ta oferta brzmi kusząco, chyba że to oszustwo. |
| His last name sounds familiar to me. | Jego nazwisko brzmi dla mnie znajomo. |
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