Questions & Answers about Kot śpi pod stołem.
Why is it śpi instead of something like "spa"?
The verb for "to sleep" is spać, but its conjugation is a bit irregular. Instead of keeping the "a" from the dictionary form, the stem changes to śp- for most present tense forms, making the "he/she/it" form śpi.
Why does the word for table change to stołem here?
The preposition pod (under) requires the Instrumental case when describing a fixed location (where something is currently resting, like sleeping). For masculine nouns like the dictionary form stół (table), we form the Instrumental case by adding the ending -em.
Where did the "ó" in stół go? Why is it spelled with an "o" in stołem?
In Polish, it is very common for the vowel ó (which sounds like "oo") in the dictionary form of a noun to change into a regular o when an ending is added. You will see this vowel shift happening in many other common words!
How do we know it means "the cat" and not "a cat"?
Polish does not have articles like "a" or "the". The translation depends entirely on the context. In an isolated sentence like this, "The cat" is the most natural translation, but "A cat is sleeping under a table" would also be grammatically correct.
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