Breakdown of Lekarz leczy pacjentów w klinice.
lekarz
doctor
w
in / on (a day)
pacjent
the patient (m)
klinika
the clinic
leczyć
to treat, to cure (leczyć się: to be treated)
Questions & Answers about Lekarz leczy pacjentów w klinice.
Why does the word for patients end in "-ów" here instead of being "pacjenci"?
The verb leczy requires a direct object, which takes the accusative case. Because pacjent is a masculine personal noun, its accusative plural form is identical to its genitive plural form, which adds the -ów ending to become pacjentów.
Why is the spelling "klinice" instead of "klinikie"?
The preposition w for a location requires the locative case. For feminine nouns ending in -ka like klinika, the k always transforms into a c in this case. This is a strict sound change rule in Polish, so it becomes w klinice.
Does "leczy" mean that the doctor successfully cures the patients?
Not necessarily. Leczy is an imperfective verb, which means it describes the ongoing process of providing medical treatment. If you wanted to express that the doctor completely cured the patients, you would need a perfective verb like wyleczyć.
Since the translation says "at the clinic", could I use the preposition "u" instead of "w"?
No, because u is used when you are at a person's place or space, such as u lekarza (at the doctor's). For physical buildings and institutions like klinika or szpital (hospital), you must use w (in/at) along with the locative case.
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