Breakdown of Ilu studentów mieszka w tym domu?
dom
house
ten
this (m)
mieszkać
to live
w
in / on (a day)
student
student (m)
ile
how many
Questions & Answers about Ilu studentów mieszka w tym domu?
Why do we use ilu here instead of ile?
Ilu is the form of "how many" used specifically for masculine personal nouns, which includes groups of men or mixed-gender groups. Because studentów refers to a male or mixed group of students, we must use ilu. If we were asking exclusively about female students, we would use ile (Ile studentek...).
Why is the noun studentów in the genitive case instead of the nominative?
In Polish, words expressing quantity like ilu or ile (as well as numbers from five upwards) force the noun that follows them into the genitive plural. This is why the nominative plural studenci becomes the genitive plural studentów.
If the sentence is about multiple students, why is the verb mieszka in the singular form?
This is a classic grammar trap. Whenever a sentence's subject is a quantifier that forces the genitive case (like ilu, wielu, or numbers five and up), the verb must be in the third-person singular form. Grammatically, the sentence structure acts like "How much (of the students) lives here?"
Why does dom take an -u ending in the locative case (w tym domu) instead of the typical masculine -e?
The noun dom is an exception. Most hard-stem masculine inanimate nouns take an -e or -ie ending in the locative case (for example, sklep becomes w sklepie). However, a handful of very common words take -u instead, and dom is one of them.
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