Breakdown of Na niebie widać pierwszą gwiazdę.
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
pierwszy
first
widać
can be seen
niebo
sky
Questions & Answers about Na niebie widać pierwszą gwiazdę.
Why is there no Polish word for "you" in this sentence if the translation says "You can see"?
The word widać is an impersonal verb. It literally means "is visible" or "can be seen". Because it is impersonal, nobody is actively doing the seeing in the Polish sentence, so there is no word for "you" or "I". English usually translates this structure as "you can see" or "one can see".
Why is it pierwszą gwiazdę instead of pierwsza gwiazda?
Even though widać is impersonal and doesn't have a subject, the thing being seen acts as the direct object. Direct objects take the accusative case. The feminine phrase pierwsza gwiazda changes its endings to -ą and -ę, becoming pierwszą gwiazdę.
The English translation says "in the sky", but the Polish sentence uses na. Why not w?
In Polish, we use the preposition na (on) for the physical sky above us, like when looking at stars, clouds, or birds. If you say w niebie, it means "in heaven" in a religious or spiritual sense.
What case is niebie?
It is in the locative case because it answers the question "where?" after the preposition na. The dictionary form is the neuter noun niebo. To form the locative, the -o changes to -ie, which also softens the b before it into a bi sound (niebie).