Breakdown of Tam zawsze jest śnieg, ale dzisiaj nie ma śniegu.
być
to be
tam
there
mieć
to have
nie
no / not
dzisiaj
today
ale
but
zawsze
always
śnieg
snow
Questions & Answers about Tam zawsze jest śnieg, ale dzisiaj nie ma śniegu.
Why does the word for snow change from śnieg to śniegu in the second half of the sentence?
This is the main rule for expressing "lack" or absence in Polish. When something exists, as in jest śnieg (there is snow), we use the basic dictionary form (the Nominative case). But when we say something is missing using nie ma (there is no), the noun that follows must change to the Genitive case. For the masculine noun śnieg, that means adding an -u to make śniegu.
Wait, doesn't ma mean "has"? Why does nie ma mean "there is no" here?
You are right that ma normally means "he/she/it has". However, the fixed phrase nie ma is the standard Polish way to say "there is no", "there isn't", or "is not present". Just remember: jest means "there is", but its exact opposite is always nie ma, never "nie jest".
For the Genitive case of śnieg, why is the ending -u instead of -a?
For masculine non-living things (inanimate nouns), the Genitive ending can be either -a or -u. There is no perfect rule, but the -u ending is very common for uncountable things, substances, and weather words. That is why words like śnieg (snow), deszcz (rain), and cukier (sugar) all take -u when they follow nie ma.
Why does tam come at the very beginning of the sentence when English puts "there" at the end?
Polish word order is much more flexible than English. Starting with tam ("over there") emphasizes the location right away, setting the scene before telling us what the weather is like. You could also say Zawsze jest tam śnieg, but putting the location first is very natural in Polish.
Learn Tam zawsze jest śnieg, ale dzisiaj nie ma śniegu and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free