Word
Ten dom wygląda na stary.
Meaning
This house looks old.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ten dom wygląda na stary.
dom
house
ten
this (m)
stary
old
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
Questions & Answers about Ten dom wygląda na stary.
Why is there a na in this sentence? Doesn't wygląda stary mean "looks old"?
In Polish, to express that something gives the impression of being a certain way, we often use the verb wyglądać (to look) plus the preposition na followed by an adjective. It translates roughly to "looks to be" a certain way. If you drop the na, you have to change the grammar!
What case is the adjective stary taking here?
It is in the accusative case. The phrase wyglądać na always requires the accusative. Because dom (house) is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its basic dictionary form (the nominative).
How do I say "looks old" without using na?
Why does the sentence start with Ten instead of To?
Ten is the masculine word for "this", which must agree with the masculine noun dom. You use To when pointing out a neuter noun (like to drzewo - this tree) or when making a general "This is..." statement (like To jest stary dom - This is an old house).