Questions & Answers about Klienci płacą w sklepie.
How does the word klient become klienci in the plural?
Because klient refers to a person, it uses the virile (masculine personal) plural form. For these nouns, the plural ending often softens the final consonant. Here, the t at the end of klient changes to ci, making it klienci.
Does klienci only mean male clients?
It means male clients, but in Polish, the virile plural is also used as the default for mixed groups. So klienci refers to a group of men, or a group of both men and women. An all-female group of clients would use the non-virile form klientki.
Why does the verb płacą end in -ą?
Płacą is the they form of the verb płacić (to pay), which matches our plural subject klienci. In the present tense, the they (third-person plural) form of almost all verbs ends in the nasal vowel -ą.
Why does the word for store change to sklepie here?
The dictionary form of the word is sklep. Because the sentence describes a physical location using the preposition w (in), we have to use the Locative case. This adds the ending -ie and softens the final consonant sound, changing sklep into w sklepie.