Questions & Answers about Mówisz po hiszpańsku?
Why is there no word for "you" in this sentence?
In Polish, the verb ending already tells us who is doing the action. The ending -isz in mówisz specifically means "you" (singular, informal) are speaking. You can add the pronoun ty for emphasis, but it is usually dropped.
Why do we use po hiszpańsku instead of just the word for Spanish?
When talking about speaking a language, Polish uses the preposition po followed by a special adverb form of the language ending in -u. It translates closer to "speaking in the Spanish way." You cannot simply say mówisz hiszpański.
Why isn't hiszpańsku capitalized here?
In Polish, adjectives and adverbs derived from proper nouns are written with lowercase letters. Only the name of the country itself (Hiszpania for Spain) or a noun for a person from that country is capitalized.
How is this a question if it has the exact same word order as a statement?
In Polish, you can turn a regular statement into a yes/no question simply by raising your voice's pitch at the end of the sentence. You could also add the question word czy at the beginning (Czy mówisz po hiszpańsku?), but it is very often dropped in casual speech.
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