Breakdown of Ten samochód kosztuje pięćdziesiąt tysięcy dolarów.
samochód
car
ten
this (m)
kosztować
to cost
pięćdziesiąt
fifty
Questions & Answers about Ten samochód kosztuje pięćdziesiąt tysięcy dolarów.
Why do we use dolarów here instead of the standard plural dolary?
This is the main rule for numbers 5 and above! When counting with numbers from 5 upwards (like pięćdziesiąt), the thing you are counting must take the Genitive plural form. The Genitive plural for the masculine noun dolar is dolarów.
Why is the word for thousand (tysięcy) also in the Genitive plural?
In Polish, tysiąc (thousand) actually acts like a noun. The number pięćdziesiąt (fifty) forces it into the Genitive plural, making it tysięcy. Then, those thousands force the next noun (dolar) into the Genitive plural as well. You can think of the literal translation as fifty of thousands of dollars.
Is there a trick to remembering how to spell or say pięćdziesiąt?
It helps to break it down! It is literally a combination of pięć (five) and dziesiąt (tens). For multiples of ten from 50 to 90, Polish always uses this -dziesiąt ending.
Just to review, why is it Ten samochód and not To samochód?
When you point to a specific noun and say this car, the word for this has to match the gender of the noun. Because samochód is a masculine noun, we use the masculine word for this, which is ten. You would only use to if the noun was neuter, or if you were saying the generic phrase This is a car (To jest samochód).