Breakdown of Bardzo współczuję temu słabemu pacjentowi.
ten
this (m)
bardzo
very
pacjent
the patient (m)
słaby
weak
współczuć
to sympathize with
Questions & Answers about Bardzo współczuję temu słabemu pacjentowi.
Why are the words for "this weak patient" in the Dative case?
The verb współczuć (to sympathize with / feel sorry for) always forces the person you are sympathizing with to be in the Dative case. While English uses the preposition "for", Polish just uses the verb directly followed by the Dative.
What is the rule for the -emu ending on słabemu?
Does temu mean "ago" here, like in rok temu (a year ago)?
No, here temu is the Dative masculine singular form of the word ten (this). It goes together with słabemu pacjentowi. The phrase rok temu actually uses this exact same Dative form, originally meaning "to this year", but in this sentence it simply translates as "this".
Why does the noun pacjentowi end in -owi?
In the Dative case, most masculine nouns take the -owi ending. There is a small group of common exceptions that take a short -u ending (like panu, ojcu, or psu), but pacjent is a regular masculine noun, so it gets the standard -owi.
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