Breakdown of Czy pan zna to nazwisko?
pan
sir / Mr.
czy
[question particle]
ten
this (m)
znać
to know (someone or something)
Questions & Answers about Czy pan zna to nazwisko?
Why does this sentence use zna (he knows) instead of znasz (you know)?
When addressing someone formally in Polish using pan (sir/Mr.), you must use the third-person form of the verb. Literally, you are asking 'Does the gentleman know...?', which acts as the formal 'Do you know...?'. That is why we use zna instead of the informal znasz.
We are learning the reflexive verb nazywać się (to be called). Is the word nazwisko related to it?
I thought 'to know' was wiedzieć. Why are we using zna (from znać) here?
Polish has two common verbs for 'to know'. You use znać when you are familiar with a person, place, or a noun (like a name). You use wiedzieć for knowing facts or having information (like 'I know that it is raining'). Since you are asking about familiarity with a specific name, znać is used.
Why is 'this' translated as to instead of ten or ta?
The word for 'this' changes depending on the gender of the noun it attaches to. Because the noun nazwisko ends in the letter '-o', it is a neuter noun. The neuter form of 'this' is to.