Breakdown of Ile lat ma ten chłopiec? Ma czternaście lat.
mieć
to have
ten
this (m)
chłopiec
boy
ile
how many
rok
year
czternaście
fourteen
Questions & Answers about Ile lat ma ten chłopiec? Ma czternaście lat.
Why do we use ma instead of a word for 'is'?
In Polish, you do not say that you are a certain number of years old. Instead, you say that you have years. Ma is the he/she/it form of the verb mieć (to have). Literally, this sentence asks 'How many years has this boy?'
The word for year is rok. Why does this sentence use lat?
The word rok (year) completely changes its form when we talk about multiple years. Lat is the special plural form used for five or more years, and for an unknown number. We use it here because of the question word ile (how many) and the number czternaście (fourteen).
Why does lat follow both ile and czternaście?
The question word ile (how many) always requires the following noun to be in a specific form called the Genitive case. Numbers from five and up, like czternaście, also require this same Genitive plural form. You can think of it as literally saying 'how many of years' and 'fourteen of years'.
Why is it ten chłopiec instead of to chłopiec?
The word for 'this' has to match the gender of the noun it describes. Chłopiec (boy) is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine word for this, which is ten. You would only use to if the noun was neuter (like dziecko for child) or if you were making a general statement like 'this is a boy' (to jest chłopiec).
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