Breakdown of On czeka na samym rogu ulicy.
on
he / it (m)
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
ulica
street
czekać
to wait
sam
the very (intensifier)
róg
corner (outer)
Questions & Answers about On czeka na samym rogu ulicy.
Doesn't sam usually mean 'alone'? How do we know it means 'the very' here?
Why does the modifier take the form samym instead of just sam?
As an identity modifier, sam declines exactly like an adjective and must agree with the noun it modifies in gender, number, and case. Since the preposition na (when indicating location) requires the locative case, both the modifier and the noun must be in the locative: samym rogu.
What happens to the spelling of róg (corner) to make it rogu?
Two things happen here. First, the root vowel ó shifts back to a regular o when an ending is added, which is a very common vowel shift in Polish. Second, róg is one of those short, inanimate masculine nouns that takes the -u ending in the locative case instead of the standard -e.
Why is ulica in the genitive case (ulicy)?
It translates to 'of the street'. When one noun describes or belongs to another noun (the corner of the street), the second noun takes the genitive case. The phrase rogu ulicy literally links the two nouns together using this case.
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