Questions & Answers about W pokoju jest pięć osób.
Why do we use the singular verb jest when the sentence is about five people?
This is a major rule in Polish: numerals from 5 upwards require the verb to be in the third-person singular (neuter). Think of pięć osób as a single 'quantity of five people.' Since 'a quantity' is singular, we use jest (is) instead of są (are).
Why does the word for 'people' or 'persons' look like osób here?
Because of the number 5. While numbers 2, 3, and 4 are followed by the Nominative plural, numbers 5 and above require the noun to be in the Genitive plural case. The Genitive plural of osoba (person) is osób.
How do you get osób from the basic word osoba?
For most feminine nouns ending in -a, you make the Genitive plural by simply dropping the -a at the end. Dropping it from osoba leaves us with the stem 'osob'. However, Polish often changes an o to an ó when a syllable becomes 'closed' (meaning it ends in a consonant). This shift gives us osób.
Why does pokój (room) change to pokoju in this sentence?
We use the preposition w (in) followed by the Locative case to show where something is located. The Locative form of pokój is pokoju. Notice how the ó in the middle of the word changes back to a regular o once the -u ending is added to the word!
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