Breakdown of Piję kawę bez mleka i bez cukru.
i
and
pić
to drink
kawa
coffee
mleko
milk
cukier
sugar
bez
without
Questions & Answers about Piję kawę bez mleka i bez cukru.
Why do mleko and cukier change to mleka and cukru in this sentence?
The preposition bez (without) always requires the noun that follows it to take the Genitive case. So, the neuter noun mleko takes the ending -a to become mleka, and the masculine noun cukier changes to cukru.
Where did the letter 'e' go in cukru, and why doesn't it end in -a like some masculine nouns?
The word cukier has a 'fleeting e,' meaning the 'e' drops out when endings are added (leaving the base cukr-). For the ending itself, masculine inanimate nouns in the Genitive take either -a or -u. Uncountable substances and materials (like sugar, sand, or juice) generally take the -u ending.
If this lesson is about the Genitive case, why is coffee written as kawę instead of the Genitive kawy?
Kawa is the direct object of the positive verb piję (I drink), so it needs to be in the Accusative case (kawę). The preposition bez only affects the nouns that come directly after it, not the words before it.
Is it necessary to repeat the word bez before cukru?
No, it is not strictly necessary. Just like in English, you can simply say bez mleka i cukru (without milk and sugar). Repeating bez just adds a slight emphasis to show that you want absolutely neither of those things in your coffee.
Learn Piję kawę bez mleka i bez cukru and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free