Breakdown of Państwo Nowakowie spacerują między domem a parkiem i kłaniają się sąsiadom.
i
and
dom
house
państwo
ladies and gentlemen / you (formal plural)
a
and / whereas (contrast)
park
park
sąsiad
neighbor
spacerować
to walk (stroll)
między
between
Nowak
Nowak
kłaniać się
to bow
Questions & Answers about Państwo Nowakowie spacerują między domem a parkiem i kłaniają się sąsiadom.
Why does the surname Nowak change to Nowakowie here?
When referring to a family or a married couple as a unit, Polish pluralizes the surname. Since Nowak ends in a consonant, it takes the -owie ending to become Nowakowie. You use this ending for groups that include at least one male.
Is Państwo required here, or could we just say Nowakowie spacerują?
You can just say Nowakowie spacerują to mean the Nowaks are walking, which is common in everyday speech. Adding Państwo makes it more formal and polite, similar to saying Mr. and Mrs. Nowak. Notice that the verb spacerują stays in the third-person plural either way.
Why does the sentence use a instead of i in między domem a parkiem?
While both words translate to the English word and, Polish specifically uses a in the construction between X and Y (między X a Y). Using i here would sound unnatural to a native speaker.
Why are the words for house and park written as domem and parkiem?
The preposition między (between) requires the nouns following it to be in the instrumental case. Since dom and park are masculine nouns, they take the instrumental endings -em and -iem.
Why is the word for neighbors spelled sąsiadom?
The verb kłaniać się (to bow) requires the person you are bowing to to be in the dative case, because you are directing the action towards them. Sąsiadom is the dative plural form of sąsiad (neighbor).
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