Breakdown of Piotrze, czy to piętnasty, czy szesnasty budynek?
to
this
czy
or (in alternative questions)
budynek
building
Piotr
Peter
piętnasty
fifteenth
szesnasty
sixteenth
Questions & Answers about Piotrze, czy to piętnasty, czy szesnasty budynek?
How do we form the ordinal numbers piętnasty (15th) and szesnasty (16th)?
They are based on the regular numbers piętnaście (15) and szesnaście (16). To turn these "teen" numbers into "teenth" ordinal numbers for a masculine noun, the ending -ście changes to -sty.
Why does the word czy appear twice in this sentence?
They serve two different functions here. The first czy is a question marker placed at the beginning to signal that a yes/no question is being asked (like "Is it...?"). The second czy means "or" when you are offering a choice between two options. So, the pattern czy to X, czy Y? translates to "Is this X, or Y?".
Why do piętnasty and szesnasty both end in -y?
In Polish, ordinal numbers act exactly like adjectives. This means they must match the gender of the noun they describe. Because budynek (building) is a masculine noun, the ordinal numbers take the masculine ending -y. If the sentence was about a feminine noun like ulica (street), they would change to piętnasta and szesnasta.
Why is Piotr's name written as Piotrze here?
This is the Vocative case, which Polish uses when directly addressing or calling out to someone. For many masculine names ending in a consonant (like Piotr), the word changes its ending when you speak directly to that person.
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