Breakdown of Znam jego imię oraz nazwisko.
znać
to know (someone or something)
nazwisko
last name
imię
first name
jego
his, its
oraz
and, as well as (formal, written)
Questions & Answers about Znam jego imię oraz nazwisko.
Why is znam used here instead of wiem for "I know"?
In Polish, there are two common verbs for "to know". Znać (used here as znam) means to be familiar with a noun, such as a person, a place, or a specific thing like a name. It is always followed by a direct object. Wiedzieć means to know a fact and is usually followed by a clause (like "I know that..."). Since you are expressing familiarity with a specific thing (a name), znam is the right choice.
What case are imię and nazwisko in, and why don't their endings change?
They are in the accusative case because they are the direct objects of the verb znam. Both imię and nazwisko are neuter nouns. For all neuter nouns, the accusative case looks exactly the same as the nominative (dictionary) form, so the words stay exactly as they are.
Why use oraz for "and" instead of the more common i?
Oraz and i both mean "and", but oraz is slightly more formal. It is often used to mean "as well as" or to connect distinct items in a list. You could perfectly well say imię i nazwisko, but using oraz sounds a bit more elevated and clearly links the two related pieces of information together.
Does the word jego change its ending depending on the gender of the nouns it describes?
No, jego (his) stays exactly the same here. Unlike possessives such as mój (my) or twój (your) which act like adjectives and must match the following noun's gender and case, third-person possessives like jego (his), jej (her), and ich (their) are frozen forms that never change their shape.
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