Breakdown of Przełożony nie chce rozmawiać z podwładnym.
nie
no / not
chcieć
to want
rozmawiać
to talk
z
with
przełożony
superior (m)
podwładny
subordinate (m)
Questions & Answers about Przełożony nie chce rozmawiać z podwładnym.
Why do words like przełożony and podwładnym look like adjectives if they mean 'manager' and 'subordinate'?
In Polish, some adjectives are used as nouns to describe people based on their traits, status, or relationships. These are called 'substantivized adjectives.' Here, przełożony literally means 'the superior one,' and podwładny means 'the subordinate one.' Even though they act like nouns in a sentence, they still follow the grammar rules for adjective endings.
Why is the subordinate written as podwładnym here instead of taking a standard noun ending?
Because the preposition z (with) requires the instrumental case. Since podwładny declines like an adjective, it takes the standard adjective instrumental ending -ym, giving us podwładnym. If it were a regular masculine noun, it would usually end in -em.
How would this sentence change if the superior and the subordinate were both women?
The words would decline exactly like feminine adjectives. 'The female superior' is przełożona (nominative), and 'with the female subordinate' becomes z podwładną (instrumental). The sentence would be: Przełożona nie chce rozmawiać z podwładną.
Is there a trick to remembering the meaning of podwładny?
Yes! You can see it is built from the prefix pod- (under) and a root related to władza (power or authority). So a podwładny is literally someone 'under the authority' of someone else.
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