Breakdown of Rodzice są najmniej krytyczni wobec swoich najmłodszych dzieci.
być
to be
dziecko
child
młody
young
mało
little / few
rodzice
the parents
swój
one's own
wobec
towards
krytyczny
critical
Questions & Answers about Rodzice są najmniej krytyczni wobec swoich najmłodszych dzieci.
How does the preposition wobec work here, and could I use dla or do instead?
The preposition wobec means 'towards' or 'in relation to' and always takes the Genitive case, which is why we see swoich najmłodszych dzieci. You use it to express an attitude or stance towards someone or something. You wouldn't use do here because do is generally for physical direction or addressing someone, and dla means 'for' (as in doing a favor or providing a benefit), which misses the specific meaning of an attitude directed at the children.
Why is the reflexive pronoun swoich used instead of ich (their)?
In Polish, when the possessor is also the grammatical subject of the sentence (in this case, Rodzice), you must use the reflexive possessive pronoun swój (here in the Genitive plural as swoich). If you used ich, it would imply that the parents are least critical towards some other people's children.
Why is the adjective krytyczni used instead of krytyczne?
Adjectives must agree with the noun they describe. Rodzice is a masculine personal (virile) noun because a group of parents implies at least one male. Therefore, the adjective takes the masculine personal plural ending, changing the standard -ny to -ni to make krytyczni. You would use krytyczne for non-masculine personal subjects like objects, animals, or groups consisting exclusively of females.
Is dzieci in the Genitive case here? It looks exactly like the Nominative plural.
Yes, it is in the Genitive plural because it is governed by the preposition wobec. The noun dziecko is highly irregular: its Nominative plural is dzieci, and its Genitive plural is also dzieci. You can easily tell it is Genitive in this sentence because the modifiers before it (swoich najmłodszych) clearly take the standard Genitive plural endings.
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