Word
To oczywisty fakt, dlatego on jest podejrzany.
Meaning
It is an obvious fact, that is why he is a suspect.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of To oczywisty fakt, dlatego on jest podejrzany.
to
this
być
to be
on
he / it (m)
podejrzany
suspect
Questions & Answers about To oczywisty fakt, dlatego on jest podejrzany.
Could I use dlatego że instead of dlatego in this sentence?
No. Dlatego means "therefore" or "that is why" and introduces the result of a situation. Dlatego że means "because" and introduces the cause. If you wanted to use dlatego że, you would have to flip the ideas: On jest podejrzany, dlatego że to oczywisty fakt (He is a suspect because it is an obvious fact).
Where is the verb "to be" in the first half of the sentence (To oczywisty fakt)?
In Polish, when you use to to mean "this is" or "it is" followed by a noun phrase, you can safely skip the word jest (is). You could say To jest oczywisty fakt, but dropping jest is grammatically correct and sounds very natural in everyday speech.
Why is oczywisty fakt in the Nominative (dictionary) case? Doesn't the verb "to be" usually require the Instrumental case?
You are right that saying "X is Y" usually requires the Instrumental case for the noun (for example, On jest studentem). However, there is a strict exception for the pronoun to. When you use to as the subject to introduce what something is, the noun that follows always stays in the Nominative case.
The word podejrzany ends in -y like an adjective, but the English translation says "a suspect" (a noun). How does this work?
Podejrzany is technically an adjective meaning "suspicious". However, Polish frequently uses this exact adjective as a noun to mean "a suspect" (a suspicious person). Keep in mind that even though it acts as a noun here, it will still take adjective endings when changing cases.