Breakdown of Mój dziadek ma bardzo dobrą pamięć.
mieć
to have
bardzo
very
dobry
good
mój
my
dziadek
the grandfather
pamięć
memory
Questions & Answers about Mój dziadek ma bardzo dobrą pamięć.
The word pamięć is feminine, so why doesn't it have an accusative ending to match dobrą?
Pamięć belongs to a special group of feminine nouns that end in a consonant, rather than the typical -a. A key rule for these nouns is that their accusative form is identical to their nominative (dictionary) form. However, any adjectives modifying them still behave normally, which is why the adjective takes the standard feminine accusative ending -ą (dobrą).
Why do we use dobrą here instead of dobra?
The verb mieć (to have) requires its direct object to be in the accusative case. Even though the noun pamięć looks unchanged, it is grammatically in the accusative here. Therefore, the adjective must agree with it and take the feminine accusative ending -ą.
If the sentence were negative, how would the word pamięć change?
A negated verb requires the genitive case instead of the accusative. For feminine nouns ending in a soft consonant like -ć, the genitive ending is -i. The adjective would also change to the feminine genitive (-ej). So if you wanted to say 'My grandfather does not have a good memory', it would be: Mój dziadek nie ma bardzo dobrej pamięci.
Are there other common feminine nouns that end in a consonant and behave like pamięć?
Yes, many abstract nouns end in -ść or -ć and are feminine, such as miłość (love), złość (anger), and radość (joy). You will also see everyday words like noc (night), rzecz (thing), and krew (blood) following this same feminine consonant declension.
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