Question 1

Why does this sentence use są instead of jest when translating the English phrase Today is?

Accepted Answer

In Polish, the word for birthday, urodziny, is always plural (just like the English words scissors or glasses). Because the subject of the sentence is plural, the verb must also be the plural form są (they are) rather than the singular jest (it is).

Question 2

Why is the ordinal number written as osiemnaste here?

Accepted Answer

Ordinal numbers act like adjectives, meaning they must match the noun they describe in gender, case, and number. Since urodziny is plural and does not refer to a group of men (it is non-masculine-personal), we use the plural non-masculine-personal ending -te, giving us osiemnaste.

Question 3

How do we build ordinal numbers like eighteenth from the standard number eighteen?

Accepted Answer

To turn numbers from 13 to 19 into ordinals, you usually take the standard number, like osiemnaście (eighteen), drop the -cie at the end, and add the matching adjective ending. Here, dropping -cie and adding -te creates osiemnaste.

Question 4

Could we say osiemnaste urodziny jej instead of jej osiemnaste urodziny?

Accepted Answer

While Polish word order is flexible, possessive pronouns like jej (her) almost always go before the adjectives, numbers, and the noun they belong to. Putting jej at the end is grammatically possible if you want to heavily emphasize whose birthday it is, but it would sound unnatural in a standard sentence like this.

Dzisiaj są jej osiemnaste urodziny!

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