Questions & Answers about Masz rację, to był długi dzień.
Why does the sentence use Masz rację (you have) instead of a form of the verb 'to be' like in English?
In Polish, you don't 'be' right, you 'have' right. The set phrase is mieć rację. Here, masz means 'you have' and rację is the accusative (direct object) form of the feminine noun racja (right/reason).
Why is the verb był (masculine) used here instead of było (neuter), if the sentence starts with the neuter word to?
When you use to as a general subject meaning 'it' or 'this', the past tense of the verb być (to be) agrees with the noun that comes after it, not with to. Because dzień (day) is a masculine noun, the verb must be the masculine był.
Doesn't the verb 'to be' usually require the instrumental case? Why is długi dzień in the basic nominative case?
You are right that 'to be' often takes the instrumental case when describing what something is. However, there is a special exception: when you use the structure with the pointing word to (like to jest or to był), the noun phrase that follows it always stays in the nominative case.
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