Breakdown of Podejrzany jest gdzieś w mieście.
być
to be
w
in / on (a day)
miasto
city
podejrzany
suspect
gdzieś
somewhere
Questions & Answers about Podejrzany jest gdzieś w mieście.
What does the -ś at the end of gdzieś do?
It turns the question word gdzie (where) into an indefinite word: gdzieś (somewhere). Adding -ś to question words is the standard way to create "some-" words in Polish, just like kto (who) becomes ktoś (someone).
Could I use gdziekolwiek instead of gdzieś in this sentence?
No, because it changes the meaning completely. Gdzieś means "somewhere" (a specific but unknown location). Gdziekolwiek means "anywhere" (it doesn't matter where). Since the police think the suspect is in a specific hidden spot, gdzieś is the correct choice.
Podejrzany looks like an adjective. Why is it used as a noun here?
Just like in English ("the suspect" or "the accused"), Polish often uses adjectives to represent a person. Podejrzany literally means "suspected", but here it stands alone as "the suspect". Keep in mind that even though it acts as a noun in the sentence, it still takes regular adjective endings when you use it in different cases.
Why does the word for city change to mieście?
The dictionary form is miasto, but the preposition w (in) requires the Locative case when describing a location. In this case, miasto changes to mieście. Notice that the root of the word changes (a turns into e, and st softens to ść) to blend smoothly with the Locative -e ending.
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