Breakdown of Na Boże Narodzenie daję prezenty całej rodzinie.
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
rodzina
the family
prezent
gift
cały
whole, entire
dawać
to give (imperfective)
Boże Narodzenie
Christmas (n)
Questions & Answers about Na Boże Narodzenie daję prezenty całej rodzinie.
Why do we use na + accusative (Boże Narodzenie) here to mean "at Christmas"?
In Polish, to express that an action happens on or for a specific holiday, you use na followed by the accusative case. You can think of it as doing something "for the occasion of" the holiday.
Why use the imperfective verb daję instead of the perfective dam?
The sentence describes a repeated, habitual action - what you generally do every year at Christmas. For habitual actions, you use the imperfective aspect. If you were talking about giving presents just for this upcoming Christmas, you would use the perfective future tense dam.
Why is the phrase cała rodzina written as całej rodzinie here?
It is in the dative case because the family is the indirect object of the sentence - the recipient of the presents. The verb dawać (to give) takes an accusative direct object (what is given: prezenty) and a dative indirect object (to whom it is given: całej rodzinie).
How does the phrase Boże Narodzenie decline?
Boże is a neuter adjective meaning "God's", and Narodzenie is a neuter noun meaning "birth". They decline together. Here they are in the accusative case, which looks exactly like the dictionary form (nominative). If you used a different preposition, like "before Christmas", both words would change, becoming przed Bożym Narodzeniem.
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