Breakdown of Mój telefon ma baterię, która jest zepsuta.
być
to be
mieć
to have
telefon
phone
mój
my
który
which, who (relative)
zepsuty
broken
bateria
battery
Questions & Answers about Mój telefon ma baterię, która jest zepsuta.
Why is it która (nominative) when the word it refers to, baterię, is in the accusative case?
A relative pronoun takes its gender from the noun it replaces (feminine, like bateria), but it takes its case from its job in the new clause. Here, która is the subject of the second half (która jest zepsuta), so it must be in the nominative case, even though baterię was the object of the first half.
Why do we use zepsuta for broken instead of złamana?
Polish uses different words for broken depending on what happened. You use zepsuta for things that stopped functioning, like electronics, machines, or toys. You use złamana for things that physically snapped or fractured, like a bone or a wooden stick.
Is the comma before która mandatory?
Yes! Unlike English, which sometimes drops the comma or even drops the word "that" entirely, Polish requires you to always keep the relative pronoun and always put a comma right before it.
Why does the word for battery change to baterię in the first part?
The verb mieć (to have) requires the accusative case because the battery is the direct object. For feminine nouns ending in -a like bateria, the ending changes to -ę in the accusative case.
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