Breakdown of Dwóch stażystów pisze raport.
pisać
to write
raport
the report
dwóch
two (masculine personal)
stażysta
intern
Questions & Answers about Dwóch stażystów pisze raport.
Why do we use "dwóch" here instead of just "dwa"?
Because an intern (stażysta) is a person. In Polish, when you are counting 2, 3, or 4 men (or a mixed group with at least one man), you use a special "masculine personal" (virile) number. Here, we use dwóch, which requires the following noun to be in the genitive plural case (stażystów).
Wait, if there are two interns, why is the verb "pisze" (singular) instead of "piszą" (plural)?
This is one of the trickiest rules in Polish! Whenever you use dwóch, trzech, or czterech as the subject of a sentence, the verb must take the third-person singular form. Grammatically, the sentence is structured a bit like saying, "A pair of interns is writing."
The dictionary word "stażysta" ends in "-a". Why does its genitive plural end in "-ów" like a masculine noun?
Even though stażysta ends in -a (which is usually a feminine ending), it refers to a male person, so it behaves as a masculine noun. In the genitive plural, masculine nouns often take the -ów ending, giving us stażystów.
Why didn't "raport" change its ending if it's the object of the sentence?
Raport is the direct object, so it is in the accusative case. However, because it is a masculine inanimate noun (a thing, not a person or animal), its accusative form looks exactly the same as its basic, dictionary form.
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