Questions & Answers about Ksiądz zaczyna mszę.
Since this lesson is about irregular plurals, what is the plural of ksiądz?
The plural is księża (priests). It is highly irregular! Even though it ends in -a (which usually marks a feminine noun), it is a masculine personal (virile) noun. Because of this, it takes masculine personal adjectives and pronouns, such as ci nowi księża (these new priests).
Does the stem vowel in ksiądz change when we use it in other cases?
Yes, the ą shifts to ę in almost all other forms. For example, if the priest is the direct object (accusative case), the word becomes księdza (e.g., Widzę księdza - I see the priest).
Is zaczyna imperfective or perfective?
It is the present tense of the imperfective verb zaczynać. It focuses on the ongoing process of starting right now ("is starting"). If you wanted to say "The priest will start the mass" (a completed action in the future), you would use the perfective counterpart zacząć and say Ksiądz zacznie mszę.
Why is the ending of mszę an -ę instead of -a?
The dictionary form of the word is msza (a feminine noun). It takes the -ę ending here because it is the direct object of the verb (what is he starting?), which requires the accusative case. As a quick refresher: feminine nouns ending in -a change to -ę in the accusative case.
Learn Ksiądz zaczyna mszę and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free