Word
Mój dziadek często mówi o swoich długich podróżach.
Meaning
My grandfather often talks about his long journeys.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Mój dziadek często mówi o swoich długich podróżach.
często
often
mój
my
mówić
to speak
dziadek
the grandfather
Questions & Answers about Mój dziadek często mówi o swoich długich podróżach.
Why does the word for journeys end in -ach here?
The preposition o (about) requires the Locative case. Because he is talking about multiple journeys, we need the Locative plural. The great thing about the Locative plural is that almost all nouns, no matter their gender, take the -ach ending. So, podróż (journey) becomes podróżach.
Why are we using swoich instead of jego for "his"?
The word swój (and its forms like swoich) means "one's own". In Polish, whenever the owner of an object is also the subject of the sentence, you must use a form of swój. Because the grandfather is talking about his own journeys, we use swoich. If you used jego here, it would mean he is talking about another man's journeys!
Why do the modifying words swoich and długich end in -ich instead of -ych?
In the Locative plural, adjectives take either -ych or -ich. You use -ich after the letters k or g, and after soft consonants. Since the stem of długi ends in g, and swój acts like it has a soft stem, they both take -ich, giving us swoich długich.
podróż ends in a consonant, which usually means a noun is masculine. Does gender matter for this ending?