Questions & Answers about Chłopiec ma dużo ołówków.
Why does the word for pencils end in -ów here?
This is the genitive plural form. For most masculine nouns, like ołówek (pencil), the genitive plural is formed by adding the ending -ów.
The dictionary form is ołówek. Where did the e go in ołówków?
This is an example of the "fleeting e" in Polish. Many masculine nouns that end in -ek drop that e when you add a grammatical ending. So, the base word ołówek loses its e before we add the -ów ending, giving us ołówków.
Why do we need the genitive case? Doesn't the verb ma (has) usually take the accusative case?
Normally, yes! The object of mieć (to have) is usually in the accusative case. However, the word dużo (a lot / many) overrides this. Quantity words like dużo, mało (few), and trochę (a little) always force the following noun into the genitive case. Since we are talking about multiple pencils, it becomes genitive plural.
Are both ó letters in ołówków pronounced the same way?
Yes. The letter ó is always pronounced like the English "oo" in "boot" (exactly like the Polish letter u). The first ó is just part of the original word ołówek, and the second one belongs to the -ów ending.
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