Questions & Answers about To jest krzesło. Ono jest blisko.
Why do we use ono for "it" instead of on or ona?
In Polish, pronouns have to match the gender of the noun they are replacing. The word for chair, krzesło, ends in -o, which means it is a neuter noun. The neuter word for "it" is ono. If we were talking about a masculine noun like a table, we would use on, and for a feminine noun like a lamp, we would use ona.
Why does the first sentence start with to and the second with ono? Don't they both mean "it"?
To is used here as a general pointing word, like "this" in "This is a chair." When you are just pointing out what something is, you use the set phrase to jest. In the second sentence, we are no longer just pointing; we are replacing the specific neuter noun krzesło with a pronoun to describe its location. That is why we switch to the specific neuter pronoun ono.
Are we required to include the word ono in the second sentence?
Actually, no! In Polish, you can usually drop the subject pronoun because the verb already tells us who or what is doing the action. Saying just Jest blisko (It is close) is perfectly natural and very common. We include ono in this sentence to help you practice your new pronouns.
Does the word blisko change its ending because krzesło is neuter?
No, blisko means "close" or "near" and it is an adverb, which is a word that describes where or how something is. Adverbs in Polish never change their endings to match nouns, so blisko stays exactly the same no matter what object you are talking about.
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