Breakdown of W kącie pokoju zza szafy wystaje stary but.
stary
old
w
in / on (a day)
pokój
room
but
shoe (m)
Questions & Answers about W kącie pokoju zza szafy wystaje stary but.
Why do we use zza szafy here instead of just za szafą?
The phrase za szafą uses the Instrumental case and means a static location "behind the wardrobe". However, the shoe is sticking out from behind it. Polish uses compound prepositions to show this kind of origin. zza means "from behind" and requires the Genitive case, so the feminine noun szafa takes its Genitive ending -y to become szafy.
Why is "in the corner" w kącie? Shouldn't it be something like w kątu?
The noun kąt (corner) needs the Locative case here because it follows w to show a static location. For masculine nouns ending in a hard consonant like -t, the Locative ending is -e. This ending softens the consonant before it, changing the hard t to a soft ci sound, which gives us kącie.
Why is the word for room pokoju instead of its basic form pokój?
It is in the Genitive case to show possession or connection, equivalent to "of" in English. So w kącie pokoju literally translates to "in the corner of the room". Notice how both the compound preposition zza and this "of" relationship use the Genitive case in this sentence, but for entirely different grammatical reasons!
How does the verb wystaje get its meaning of "sticks out"?