Word
Ksiądz zaczyna mszę.
Meaning
The priest is starting the mass.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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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?