Breakdown of To jest duża tajemnica, ale ktoś musi coś wiedzieć.
to
this
być
to be
duży
big
wiedzieć
to know
ale
but
musieć
to have to
coś
something
ktoś
somebody
tajemnica
mystery
Questions & Answers about To jest duża tajemnica, ale ktoś musi coś wiedzieć.
How do the words ktoś and coś get their meaning in this sentence?
They are built from the basic question words kto (who) and co (what). Adding the suffix -ś turns them into 'someone' and 'something'. You will see this suffix a lot in Polish to make indefinite words, like gdzieś for 'somewhere' or kiedyś for 'sometime'.
If coś is the object being known, shouldn't it change its ending for the Accusative case?
Coś actually is in the Accusative case here! Just like the base word co, its Accusative form is exactly the same as its Nominative (dictionary) form, so it does not change visually.
Why does the sentence use wiedzieć for 'to know' instead of znać?
We use wiedzieć when talking about knowing facts, information, or abstract things like coś (something). Znać is used when you are familiar with a person, place, or a specific noun, like knowing a friend or a city.
Why is the adjective duża ending in '-a'?
It has to match the gender of the noun it describes, tajemnica (mystery). Since tajemnica ends in '-a', it is a feminine noun, so the basic masculine adjective duży (big) changes to its feminine form, duża.
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