Questions & Answers about On uczy się chińskiego.
Why is there a się in this sentence? Can I just say On uczy chińskiego?
If you drop the się, the meaning changes completely! The verb uczyć means to teach, while uczyć się (literally to teach oneself) means to learn. So On uczy chińskiego would mean He is teaching Chinese, not He is learning Chinese.
Why is the word for Chinese chińskiego instead of the dictionary form chiński?
The verb uczyć się (to learn) always requires the thing you are learning to be in the genitive case. Because language names in Polish are grammatically adjectives, chiński takes the genitive adjective ending, becoming chińskiego.
Is a word missing here? Shouldn't it be języka chińskiego?
You absolutely can say On uczy się języka chińskiego, but Polish speakers often drop the word języka (the genitive form of język, meaning language) to keep it short. The word chińskiego on its own is perfectly understood in this context.
Does uczy się mean he is learning right now, or he learns in general?
It can mean both! Polish doesn't have a separate continuous tense like English does with is learning. You have to rely on context to know if he is hitting the books at this exact moment or if learning Chinese is just an ongoing hobby of his.
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