Breakdown of Ten fotograf niedługo zostanie sławnym artystą.
ten
this (m)
artysta
artist
niedługo
soon
zostać
to become
fotograf
photographer
sławny
famous
Questions & Answers about Ten fotograf niedługo zostanie sławnym artystą.
Why are sławnym and artystą in the Instrumental case?
This is because of the verb zostać (to become). In Polish, when you talk about a profession, role, or identity that someone becomes, the noun and its adjectives must take the Instrumental case.
Wait, doesn't the -ą ending in artystą usually belong to feminine nouns? Why use it for a male photographer?
You are exactly right, -ą is the standard Instrumental ending for feminine nouns. However, the base word here is artysta (artist). Because it is a masculine noun that ends in -a, it borrows feminine endings when it changes form in the singular. So, artysta becomes artystą.
If artystą takes a feminine ending, why is the adjective sławnym masculine?
Adjectives always agree with the actual gender of the person or thing, regardless of how the noun happens to spell its endings. Since an artysta is a man (masculine personal gender), the adjective must be the masculine Instrumental sławnym, not the feminine sławną.
How do we know zostanie means "will become" (future tense) rather than "becomes" (present tense)?
Zostać is a perfective verb, meaning it focuses on the result or completion of an action. Perfective verbs do not have a true present tense. When you conjugate them using present tense endings (like -nie in zostanie), they automatically create the future tense.
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