Questions & Answers about To kosztuje dziesięć dolarów.
Why is the word for dollars dolarów instead of just dolary?
In Polish, when you use a number from five onwards (like dziesięć, meaning ten), the noun that follows it must take the genitive plural form. If you had two, three, or four dollars, you would use the standard nominative plural: dwa dolary. But for ten, it has to be dziesięć dolarów.
How do we know to add -ów to dolar?
For most masculine nouns that end in a hard consonant, like the r in dolar, the genitive plural ending is -ów. This is a very common ending you will see for masculine objects and currencies when dealing with quantities of five or more.
If dollars are plural, why is the verb kosztuje singular instead of plural?
The grammatical subject of this specific sentence is the word To (It), which is singular, so the verb is the singular kosztuje. However, it is good to remember that in Polish, any phrase starting with a number from five and up is treated as a singular block anyway, and will usually take a singular, neuter verb!
How is the ending of dolarów pronounced?
The letter ó makes an oo sound, just like the regular Polish u. Also, when the letter w is at the very end of a word, it loses its voice and sounds like an f. Therefore, the -ów ending sounds like oof, making the whole word sound like do-lah-roof.