Question 1

Why does the word for zloty change to złotych here?

Accepted Answer

In Polish, numbers affect the noun that comes after them. For the currency złoty: 1 is just złoty, 2, 3, and 4 use złote, but 5 and above (like 15) use a special plural form called the genitive plural, which is złotych. Because our number is 15, we say piętnaście złotych.

Question 2

How do you pronounce the number 15, and how is the word built?

Accepted Answer

The word for 15 is piętnaście. In Polish, the "teen" numbers (11-19) are formed by adding -naście to the base number. It comes from an old way of saying "five on ten" (pięć + na + -ście). Notice that the ć from pięć changes to a t to make it easier to say!

Question 3

I thought "this" was to. Why does the sentence start with Ta kawa?

Accepted Answer

You use to when saying "This is..." (like To jest kawa). But when you point at a specific object and say "This coffee", the word for "this" has to match the gender of the noun. Because kawa (coffee) is a feminine word, we must use the feminine form ta.

Question 4

What is the base form of the verb kosztuje?

Accepted Answer

The dictionary form is kosztować (to cost). Verbs that end in -ować follow a special pattern: you drop the -ować and replace it with -uj- before adding the endings. For "it" (the coffee), the ending is -e, giving us kosztuje.

Ta kawa kosztuje 15 złotych.

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