Questions & Answers about Daliśmy mu dużego misia.
Why does the verb for "we gave" end in -śmy instead of just dali?
In Polish, the past tense includes the "we" part right inside the verb. Dali means "they gave" (for a group with at least one man), but adding -śmy makes it daliśmy, which means "we gave".
Could we say dałyśmy instead of daliśmy?
Yes, but it depends on who is speaking! You would use dałyśmy if the group saying "we" consists entirely of women. Daliśmy is used if there is at least one male in the "we" group.
Why do we use mu for "him" instead of jego?
The verb dać (to give) requires the Dative case because you are giving something to someone. Mu is the short Dative form of "he". We use the short form here because it doesn't carry special emphasis and isn't at the beginning of the sentence.
Why does "big teddy bear" change to dużego misia?
The teddy bear is the direct object (the thing being given), so it needs the Accusative case. In Polish, words for animals and animal-like toys (like miś) belong to the "masculine animate" gender. For this group, the Accusative case endings look exactly like the Genitive endings: -ego for the adjective and -a for the noun.