Breakdown of Uczę się polskiego oraz niemieckiego.
polski
Polish
uczyć się
to learn
niemiecki
German
oraz
and, as well as (formal, written)
Questions & Answers about Uczę się polskiego oraz niemieckiego.
Why are polskiego and niemieckiego in the genitive case instead of the accusative?
The verb uczyć się (to learn) always requires its object to be in the genitive case. Even though you are directly doing the action to the languages, you must use the genitive forms polskiego and niemieckiego instead of the accusative.
Where is the word for language in this sentence?
It is very common in Polish to drop the word języka (the genitive form of język, meaning language) when talking about studying or speaking a language. Saying uczę się polskiego sounds perfectly natural. If you wanted to be more formal, you could say uczę się języka polskiego.
What is the difference between using oraz and i here?
Oraz means as well as or and. It is slightly more formal and emphatic than the basic word for and (i), but they are mostly interchangeable. Polish speakers often use oraz to connect bigger concepts, or as the final and in a longer list to avoid repeating i, but here it just nicely emphasizes that you are learning German in addition to Polish.
Why is the reflexive pronoun się necessary in this sentence?
The base verb uczyć actually means to teach someone else. To say to learn, you have to use the reflexive form uczyć się (literally to teach oneself). Without się, the sentence would sound like you are teaching Polish to someone else, but it would be grammatically incomplete because you didn't mention who you are teaching.
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