Breakdown of Nie widzimy dzikich zwierząt wśród tych drzew.
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
widzieć
to see
drzewo
tree
zwierzę
animal
wśród
among
dziki
wild
Questions & Answers about Nie widzimy dzikich zwierząt wśród tych drzew.
Why do we use tych drzew after wśród instead of te drzewa?
The preposition wśród (among) always requires the noun phrase that follows it to be in the Genitive case. Since we are talking about 'these trees' in the plural, the Nominative te drzewa becomes the Genitive tych drzew.
Why is 'wild animals' translated as dzikich zwierząt rather than dzikie zwierzęta?
This is a great example of the 'Genitive of Negation' rule. The verb widzieć (to see) normally takes the Accusative case for its direct object, which would be dzikie zwierzęta. However, because the verb is negated by nie (nie widzimy), the object must change to the Genitive case, becoming dzikich zwierząt.
The word for animal is zwierzę, so where does the -ąt come from in zwierząt?
Nouns ending in -ę, like zwierzę, belong to a special group of neuter nouns. When they decline in the plural, they expand their stem by adding -ęt-. In the Genitive plural specifically, that ę shifts to an ą, creating the form zwierząt.
Why does drzewo (tree) become just drzew in the Genitive plural?
Many neuter nouns ending in -o (like drzewo) and feminine nouns ending in -a drop their final vowel entirely in the Genitive plural. This leaves them with what is called a 'zero ending,' so the plural Genitive of drzewo is simply drzew.
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