Breakdown of Ci generałowie i oficerowie pracują tu bardzo długo.
i
and
tu
here
ten
this (m)
bardzo
very
pracować
to work
długo
for a long time
generał
the general (m)
oficer
the officer (m)
Questions & Answers about Ci generałowie i oficerowie pracują tu bardzo długo.
Why do generał and oficer take the -owie ending here instead of the usual masculine personal endings like -i or -y?
The -owie suffix is a special masculine personal (virile) plural ending. It is reserved for words denoting prestige, such as family members, titles, and professions. Because generał and oficer are respected military ranks, they use this ending to become generałowie and oficerowie.
Does adding -owie cause any spelling changes to the root words?
Usually no, and that is a great benefit of the -owie ending! Unlike the -i ending, which often forces tricky consonant mutations (like Polak changing to Polacy), you simply attach -owie to the base word. So, generał just becomes generałowie and oficer becomes oficerowie.
Why is the pronoun ci used instead of te for 'these'?
Ci is the specific plural form of ten (this) used for masculine personal nouns (groups containing at least one man). Since generałowie and oficerowie are masculine personal nouns, they require ci. You would use te for all other plurals, like objects, animals, or groups of exclusively women.
The English translation says 'have been working', but pracują is in the present tense. Why doesn't this sentence use a past tense?
In Polish, if an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you use the present tense. The phrase bardzo długo (for a very long time) establishes how long the action has been going on. While English requires the present perfect continuous tense here, Polish simply pairs the present tense pracują with a duration.
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