Breakdown of Bracia z tego zakonu zawsze się modlą.
ten
this (m)
zawsze
always
brat
brother
z
from (+ Genitive)
Questions & Answers about Bracia z tego zakonu zawsze się modlą.
I thought masculine personal (virile) nouns usually end in -i or -y in the plural. Why is the plural of brat bracia?
Brat is an irregular noun that follows a mixed declension in the plural. Even though it describes a group of men, its nominative plural ends in -a, which is normally a non-masculine plural ending. This is a special historical exception that you just have to memorize, similar to ksiądz becoming księża.
Since bracia ends in -a, do adjectives describing it also use non-masculine endings?
No, grammatically bracia acts as a normal masculine personal (virile) noun in the plural. If you wanted to add an adjective or pronoun, you would use the standard virile forms. For example, to say "these brothers", you would use the masculine personal pronoun ci, making it ci bracia.
Why is the phrase z tego zakonu in the genitive case?
The preposition z takes the genitive case when it means "from" or "out of". Here, the basic nominative phrase ten zakon (this religious order) changes to the genitive tego zakonu to express where the brothers are from.
What is the infinitive form of modlą się?
The infinitive is modlić się (to pray). It is a reflexive verb in Polish, which means it must always be paired with the particle się. The -ą ending on modlą is the standard third-person plural (they) ending for verbs in this conjugation group.