Breakdown of Ci księża znają biskupa z naszej parafii.
ten
this (m)
znać
to know (someone or something)
nasz
our
z
from (+ Genitive)
ksiądz
priest
biskup
bishop
parafia
parish
Questions & Answers about Ci księża znają biskupa z naszej parafii.
Why does the plural word księża end in -a? Doesn't that usually make it feminine?
It does look feminine, but księża is a special mixed declension plural for the masculine word ksiądz (priest). It is completely irregular. Because it refers to a group of men, it acts as a masculine personal (virile) noun despite its unusual ending.
Why do we use ci instead of te before księża?
Because księża (priests) is a masculine personal (virile) noun, it requires the virile pronoun ci (these). You only use te for non-virile plurals, which includes groups of women, animals, or inanimate objects.
Why is the bishop referred to as biskupa here instead of biskup?
The verb znać (to know a person or place) requires its direct object to be in the accusative case. For masculine animate nouns like biskup (bishop), the accusative form is identical to the genitive form, which means you add an -a to the end.
Why does the word parafii end with a double -ii?
The preposition z (meaning 'from' in this context) requires the noun following it to be in the genitive case. For feminine nouns that end in -fia in their base form, like parafia (parish), the genitive ending is always a double -ii.
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