Breakdown of Ten mężczyzna zawsze daje napiwek kelnerowi.
ten
this (m)
mężczyzna
man
zawsze
always
kelner
waiter
Questions & Answers about Ten mężczyzna zawsze daje napiwek kelnerowi.
Why does the word for waiter end in -owi here?
Because kelner (waiter) is receiving the tip, making it the indirect object of the sentence (he is the one being given to). In Polish, indirect objects take the Dative case. For most masculine nouns like kelner, the Dative singular ending is -owi, which gives us kelnerowi.
The word napiwek (tip) is the direct object being given. Why doesn't its ending change?
It is actually in the Accusative case, but you can't see a change! Napiwek is a masculine inanimate noun (a non-living thing). For masculine inanimate nouns, the Accusative form looks exactly the same as the basic dictionary form.
Why is it Ten mężczyzna instead of Ta mężczyzna if the noun ends in -a?
Although mężczyzna (man) ends in -a like most feminine nouns, it refers to a male person, so it is grammatically masculine. Because of this, it must take masculine modifiers, which is why we use the masculine word for 'this' (Ten).
Could I change the word order to match English exactly and say daje kelnerowi napiwek?
Yes, you can. Polish word order is very flexible because the word endings (like -owi) already tell you who is giving what to whom. Placing kelnerowi at the very end of this sentence just places a little extra emphasis on who is getting the tip.