Word
Chłopiec widzi małego kota.
Meaning
The boy sees a small cat.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Chłopiec widzi małego kota.
Why does the word for cat change to kota here instead of just kot?
Kot is the direct object of the sentence (the thing being seen), so it needs to be in the Accusative case. For masculine nouns, Polish splits them into animate (living things like animals) and inanimate (objects). Since a cat is an animal, it is animate. Animate masculine nouns take the -a ending in the Accusative case, making it kota.
Why does the adjective mały (small) change to małego?
Adjectives must match the noun they describe. Because kota is a masculine animate noun in the Accusative case, the adjective describing it also has to take the masculine animate Accusative ending. For adjectives, this ending is -ego, turning mały into małego.
If the boy saw a small table (mały stół) instead of a cat, how would the endings change?
A table (stół) is an inanimate object. Masculine inanimate nouns and their adjectives do not change in the Accusative case; they look exactly like they do in the basic Nominative case. The sentence would be Chłopiec widzi mały stół. The special -ego and -a endings you see in małego kota are only used because a cat is a living creature.
If I swap the words and say Małego kota widzi chłopiec, does the meaning change?