Word
Rzadko bywam u mojego teścia.
Meaning
I rarely visit my father-in-law.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Rzadko bywam u mojego teścia.
mój
my
rzadko
rarely
u
at, at the place of
bywać
to visit frequently, to be
Questions & Answers about Rzadko bywam u mojego teścia.
Why is it u mojego teścia and not just u mój teść?
The preposition u (meaning at the home or place of) always requires the following nouns and adjectives to be in the Genitive case. Because of this rule, the basic dictionary phrase mój teść (my father-in-law) must change to its Genitive form, mojego teścia.
Why does this sentence use bywam instead of jestem?
Both verbs relate to being somewhere, but bywać is a frequentative verb meaning to be somewhere regularly or to visit. Because the sentence describes a repeated habit with the word rzadko (rarely), Polish uses bywam instead of jestem (which means I am right now).
Where did the ć from teść go in the word teścia?
When adding a vowel ending to a Polish noun that ends in a soft consonant like -ć, the spelling changes to -ci-. So, teść plus the Genitive -a ending becomes teścia. The sound remains soft, but Polish spelling rules require using an i instead of the accent mark before another vowel.
How would I change this to say I am at my father-in-law's right now?
You would drop the word rzadko (rarely) and change the habitual verb bywam to the regular present tense jestem. The resulting sentence is Jestem u mojego teścia.