Breakdown of Podoba mi się ten ciemniejszy pokój.
ten
this (m)
pokój
room
ciemny
dark
podobać się
to appeal / to like (aesthetically, first impressions)
Questions & Answers about Podoba mi się ten ciemniejszy pokój.
How is the comparative adjective ciemniejszy (darker) formed from the basic word for "dark"?
The basic adjective is ciemny (dark). To make comparative adjectives, we drop the final -y and add an ending. Because the stem of ciemny ends in a cluster of two consonants (-mn-), we add the ending -ejszy instead of just -szy. So, ciemn- + -ejszy gives us ciemniejszy.
Why is ten ciemniejszy pokój in the nominative case? Shouldn't the thing I like be the object?
In Polish, the verb podobać się behaves differently than "to like" in English. It literally translates to "to be pleasing to". The sentence is actually structured as "This darker room is pleasing to me." Because the room is doing the action of being pleasing, ten ciemniejszy pokój is the subject of the sentence, which means it must be in the nominative case.
How would the word ciemniejszy change if we were talking about a feminine noun, like lampa (lamp)?
Comparative adjectives still have to agree with the gender of the noun. The -y at the very end of ciemniejszy is the masculine nominative ending. If you were talking about a feminine noun like lampa, you would swap the -y for an -a, making it Ta ciemniejsza lampa mi się podoba.
Could I use the word mnie instead of here?