Questions & Answers about Banan jest żółty.
Why is there no word for "The" at the start of the sentence?
Polish does not use definite or indefinite articles like "the" or "a". Depending on the context, banan can mean "a banana" or "the banana".
Why do we use the form żółty here instead of żółta or żółte?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. Because banan is a masculine noun, we use the masculine adjective ending -y to make żółty. If we were describing a feminine noun like a lemon (cytryna), the adjective would be żółta.
We often use the instrumental case after the verb jest. Why is żółty in the basic nominative case here?
When you use jest (is) followed by just an adjective to describe the subject, the adjective stays in the basic nominative case. You only use the instrumental case after jest when you are linking the subject to another noun, like in the sentence Banan jest owocem (The banana is a fruit).
How do you pronounce the special characters in żółty?
The letter ż makes a sound similar to the "s" in the English word "measure". The letter ó (o with a little dash) is pronounced exactly like the Polish letter u, which sounds like the "oo" in "boot".
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