Breakdown of Ten artykuł był bardzo długi i nudny.
być
to be
i
and
ten
this (m)
bardzo
very
artykuł
article
długi
long
nudny
boring
Questions & Answers about Ten artykuł był bardzo długi i nudny.
Why do we use był for "was" here, and not another form?
Because artykuł (article) is a masculine noun. In the Polish past tense, the verb "to be" changes based on gender. We use był for masculine nouns, była for feminine nouns, and było for neuter nouns.
Why is "this" translated as Ten instead of To?
Ten is the masculine version of "this", used here to match the masculine noun artykuł. You would use to for neuter nouns (like to słowo - this word) or when pointing something out generally (like To jest artykuł - This is an article).
Why are the adjectives długi and nudny in the basic Nominative case? Shouldn't we use the Instrumental case with the verb "to be"?
Good question! We only use the Instrumental case after "to be" (być) when connecting a noun to another noun (like "He was a doctor"). When connecting a noun to just an adjective (like "The article was long"), the adjective stays in the basic Nominative case.
Why do długi and nudny have different ending letters if they are both masculine adjectives?
Adjectives usually end in -y for masculine nouns, like nudny. However, in Polish spelling rules, the letters g and k cannot be followed by a y. So, for a word like dług-, the ending changes to -i, making it długi.
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