Breakdown of Gwizdek to nie zabawka, bo bezpieczeństwo jest ważne.
być
to be
nie
no / not
to
is (linking copula)
bo
because
zabawka
toy (f)
ważny
important
gwizdek
the whistle
bezpieczeństwo
the safety
Questions & Answers about Gwizdek to nie zabawka, bo bezpieczeństwo jest ważne.
Why is it Gwizdek to nie zabawka instead of using the verb jest?
In Polish, you can link two nouns to say 'A is B' in two ways. Using to (like in this sentence) lets you keep both nouns in the basic Nominative case. If you used the verb jest, the second noun would have to change to the Instrumental case: Gwizdek nie jest zabawką. Both are correct, but to is very common in everyday speech and simpler to use!
Could I change the word order and say Gwizdek nie to zabawka?
No, when negating an 'A to B' sentence, the word nie must go directly before the second noun that it is negating. The correct and only pattern for this structure is '[Noun 1] to nie [Noun 2]'.
The word bezpieczeństwo is quite long. How can I break it down to remember it?
It comes from the adjective bezpieczny, which means 'safe'. The suffix -stwo is extremely common in Polish for creating abstract neuter nouns from adjectives or other nouns, much like '-ness' or '-ty' in English. So, bezpieczny (safe) becomes bezpieczeństwo (safety).
Why does the adjective ważne end in -e here instead of -y?
Adjectives must agree with the gender of the noun they describe. The noun bezpieczeństwo ends in -o, which tells us it is a neuter noun. Because of this, the basic masculine adjective ważny (important) drops the -y and takes the neuter ending -e to become ważne.
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