Breakdown of Nauczyciel czyta swój nowy słownik i pije gorącą kawę.
i
and
czytać
to read
nowy
new
pić
to drink
kawa
coffee
gorący
hot
nauczyciel
teacher
swój
one's own
słownik
dictionary
Questions & Answers about Nauczyciel czyta swój nowy słownik i pije gorącą kawę.
Why does the sentence use swój instead of jego for "his"?
The word swój is a reflexive possessive pronoun that means "one's own". Whenever the subject of the sentence (the teacher) is acting on their own possession (his dictionary), Polish requires swój. If you used jego here, it would mean the teacher is reading some other man's dictionary.
Since swój nowy słownik is the direct object of the verb, why don't the endings change for the Accusative case?
It actually is in the Accusative case! The noun słownik (dictionary) is a masculine inanimate noun. For these types of nouns, the Accusative case looks exactly the same as the basic Nominative case. Because the noun doesn't change, the describing words swój and nowy also keep their basic dictionary forms.
Why do the words for "hot coffee" change to gorącą kawę?
Just like the dictionary, the coffee is a direct object taking the Accusative case, but it belongs to a different gender. The basic feminine noun kawa changes its final -a to -ę. Its matching adjective gorąca (hot) changes its final -a to -ą.
How do we know the verbs mean "is reading" and "is drinking" instead of "reads" and "drinks"?
Polish doesn't have a separate continuous tense like English does. A present tense verb like czyta can mean "reads" or "is reading", and pije can mean "drinks" or "is drinking". You just rely on the context of the sentence to decide which translation makes the most sense in English.
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