Breakdown of Nie widzę dywanu między stołem a kanapą.
stół
table
nie
no / not
a
and / whereas (contrast)
widzieć
to see
między
between
kanapa
sofa
dywan
rug
Questions & Answers about Nie widzę dywanu między stołem a kanapą.
Why do we use a instead of i for the word "and" in this sentence?
When saying "between one thing and another" in Polish, you use the set phrase między ... a .... Even though i is the most common word for "and", you must use a as the connector when listing the two endpoints after między.
Why are the words stołem and kanapą in the Instrumental case?
The preposition między (between) requires the nouns following it to be in the Instrumental case when you are describing a location. Because the rug is resting between them, both stół and kanapa take their Instrumental endings.
The word for table is stół. Why does the vowel change to an "o" in stołem?
Many short Polish nouns that have an ó in their basic dictionary form change that ó to a regular o when they take grammatical endings. Since the Instrumental case forces us to add the -em ending, the root changes, giving us stołem.
Why is the word for rug written as dywanu (Genitive) instead of dywan (Accusative)?
Normally, the direct object of the verb widzieć (to see) takes the Accusative case. However, because this sentence is negative (nie widzę), the Genitive of Negation rule applies. In Polish, negating a verb that normally takes the Accusative forces its object to flip to the Genitive case.
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