Breakdown of W naszym biurze pracuje czworo ludzi.
pracować
to work
w
in / on (a day)
biuro
office
nasz
our
człowiek
person, human
czworo
four (collective)
Questions & Answers about W naszym biurze pracuje czworo ludzi.
Why do we use the collective numeral czworo here instead of cztery or czterech?
We use collective numerals like czworo for mixed-gender groups, young children, and nouns that only exist in the plural. The word ludzie (people) is treated as a mixed-gender group, so it naturally pairs with collective numerals.
Why is the noun ludzi in the genitive case instead of the nominative?
Collective numerals act like quantity words in Polish. Just like numbers from five upwards, collective numerals like czworo force the noun that follows them into the genitive plural case. So, the nominative ludzie becomes the genitive ludzi.
If there are four people, why is the verb pracuje in the singular instead of the plural pracują?
When the subject of a sentence is a collective numeral, the verb must take the third-person singular form. Grammatically, the sentence is structured as if it is saying a group of four works in our office.
Why does biuro change to biurze?
The preposition w (in) takes the locative case here because it describes a static location. To put biuro in the locative case, the ending changes and triggers a consonant mutation where the r becomes rz.
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