Breakdown of Potrzebujemy dobrych lokalnych sklepów.
dobry
good
sklep
shop
lokalny
local
potrzebować
to need
Questions & Answers about Potrzebujemy dobrych lokalnych sklepów.
Why is the phrase dobrych lokalnych sklepów in the genitive case?
The verb potrzebować (to need) is one of those Polish verbs that always requires its object to be in the genitive case instead of the standard accusative case. Since we are talking about multiple shops, the entire phrase takes the genitive plural form.
How do the adjectives dobrych and lokalnych get their genitive plural endings?
To form the genitive plural, Polish adjectives generally take the ending -ych after hard consonants, or -ich after soft consonants and k/g. The base words are dobry and lokalny. Since their stems end in the hard consonants 'r' and 'n', we swap the last letter for -ych, giving us dobrych and lokalnych.
Why does the noun sklepów end in -ów?
The base word is sklep (shop), which is a regular masculine noun. As a quick refresher, in the genitive plural, almost all masculine nouns take the -ów ending.
The base verb is potrzebować, so why is it potrzebujemy here instead of something like "potrzebamy"?
Verbs that end in -ować change their stem in the present tense. You have to drop the -ować and insert -uj- before adding the personal ending. For "we" (the -emy ending), it becomes potrzeb- + -uj- + -emy, resulting in potrzebujemy.
Learn Potrzebujemy dobrych lokalnych sklepów and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free