Breakdown of Ten głuchy chłopiec wskazuje na nas rękami.
ten
this (m)
my
we
chłopiec
boy
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
ręka
hand, arm
wskazywać
to point
głuchy
deaf
Questions & Answers about Ten głuchy chłopiec wskazuje na nas rękami.
The lesson is about irregular body parts. Is rękami irregular?
Actually, rękami uses the standard feminine instrumental plural ending (-ami). However, because ręka (hand) is a paired body part, it also has a special irregular instrumental form left over from the old dual number: rękoma. Both rękami and rękoma are correct and commonly used to mean "with hands".
Since ręka is one of the special "dual" body parts, what is its plural form if I just want to say "hands" as the subject?
The nominative plural is ręce. Instead of following the standard feminine plural rules, it keeps its historical dual form. You will see this same pattern with other paired body parts, like oko becoming oczy (eyes) and ucho becoming uszy (ears).
Why do we need the preposition na in wskazuje na nas? Can we just say wskazuje nas?
You need na (followed by the accusative case) to mean physically pointing at someone or something. If you drop na and just say wskazuje nas, it changes the meaning to "indicates us" or "points us out," such as identifying someone from a crowd.
Why does the verb wskazywać change to wskazuje here? Where did the -yw- go?
Verbs that end in -ywać (as well as -ować and -iwać) in their dictionary form drop that ending and replace it with -uj- when conjugated in the present tense. That is why wskazywać (to point) becomes wskazuje (he/she/it points).
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