Learn Polish: Pomagam temu choremu pacjentowi. - I am helping this sick patient.

The verb pomagać (to help) is a special verb that always requires its object to be in the Dative case. Think of it as giving help 'to' someone, rather than doing an action directly to them. That is why we use temu choremu pacjentowi instead of the Accusative form.

How do we form the Dative adjective choremu from chory?

To make a masculine or neuter adjective Dative, we drop the final -y or -i and add the ending -emu. Because pacjentowi is a masculine noun in the Dative case, the adjective chory (sick) changes to choremu to match it perfectly.

Does the word for 'this' (ten) follow the same rule as adjectives?

Yes! The word ten changes to temu here. Demonstrative words like 'this' or 'that' behave just like adjectives in the Dative case, so it gets the exact same -emu ending as choremu to match the masculine noun.

Why does the noun pacjent get the -owi ending?

The noun pacjent is masculine. In the Dative singular case, the vast majority of masculine nouns take the -owi ending. This is why it becomes pacjentowi.