Questions & Answers about Moja matka zawsze pomaga biednym dzieciom.
Why is the phrase "poor children" translated as biednym dzieciom instead of the basic plural biedne dzieci?
The verb pomagać (to help) always forces the person being helped into the Dative case. Since the mother is helping multiple children, both the adjective and the noun must take their Dative plural forms.
Is the -om ending on dzieciom specific to neuter nouns?
No, and that is the best part about the Dative plural! In Polish, almost every single noun takes the -om ending in the Dative plural, no matter what gender it is. The plural word dzieci (children) simply takes this universal -om ending.
What about the adjective ending in biednym? Is it also the same for all genders?
Yes! In the Dative plural, adjectives do not care about gender either. They always take the ending -ym (or -im after soft letters like k or g). The base adjective biedny (poor) simply drops its last letter and becomes biednym.
Can I use mama instead of matka here?
Absolutely. Matka is the standard word for "mother," but it can sound a bit formal or detached in casual conversation. In everyday speech, you will hear Polish people use mama (mom) much more often. Both would stay in the Nominative case here since the mother is the subject of the sentence.