Breakdown of W tej zupie nie ma tłuszczu.
mieć
to have
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
zupa
soup
w
in / on (a day)
tłuszcz
fat (substance)
Questions & Answers about W tej zupie nie ma tłuszczu.
Why is it tłuszczu instead of tłuszcz?
The phrase nie ma (there is no) always requires the Genitive case. Since tłuszcz (fat) is a masculine inanimate noun, its Genitive form takes the ending -u, making it tłuszczu.
Why does zupa change to zupie here?
The preposition w (in) requires the Locative case when describing a location. For feminine nouns ending in -a like zupa, the ending changes to -e. In Polish, the hard consonant p must soften before an -e, so it becomes pi, resulting in zupie.
Why does ta (this) become tej?
Tej is the Locative form of the feminine word ta. Because it describes the soup and follows the preposition w (in), it has to match the noun's case, changing ta zupa (this soup) into w tej zupie (in this soup).
Does nie ma literally mean "does not have"?
Yes, it literally translates to "does not have", but Polish uses nie ma as the standard way to say "there is no" or "is not present". Whenever you use it to say something is missing or doesn't exist, you must follow it with the Genitive case.
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