Questions & Answers about To imię jest bardzo stare.
Why do we say to imię instead of ten imię or ta imię?
The word imię (first name) is a neuter noun. While most Polish nouns ending in -a are feminine, nouns that end in the nasal vowel -ę are neuter. Because it is neuter, it must be paired with the neuter word for "this", which is to.
Why does the adjective for "old" end in "-e" (stare)?
Adjectives always change their endings to match the gender of the noun they describe. The base dictionary form is the masculine stary, but because imię is a neuter noun, the adjective takes the neuter ending to become stare.
We're learning the verb nazywać się (to be called) for names. Why don't we use it here?
Nazywać się is a reflexive verb used to state what a person or thing is called (literally "to call oneself"). In this sentence, we aren't introducing someone; we are describing the name itself as a concept. So, we just use the noun imię (first name) and the normal verb jest (is).
I thought stare was a plural form. Is this sentence plural?
Good catch! Stare is indeed the plural form for non-masculine words, but it is also the singular neuter form. Here, it is singular. We know it's singular because the verb is jest (is), not są (are), and the pronoun is to (this), not te (these).
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