Learn Polish: Sojusznikom jednak zależy na sojuszu. - However, the allies care about the alliance.

In Polish, to say someone cares about something, we use the verb zależeć. This verb requires the person who cares to be in the dative case. Here, sojusznikom is the dative plural of sojusznik. You can think of the literal structure as 'It matters TO the allies.'

Since the word for allies is plural, why is the verb zależy in the singular?

When zależeć is used to mean 'care about,' it is an impersonal verb. This means it does not take a normal subject. It always stays in the third-person singular form (zależy), regardless of whether one person or a million people care about the thing.

What case is sojuszu, and why?

The word sojuszu is in the locative case. When using zależeć to express caring or importance, the thing being cared about is introduced by the preposition na, which must be followed by the locative case. The base word sojusz is a masculine inanimate noun, and its locative ending here is -u.

Why is jednak placed after sojusznikom instead of at the very beginning of the sentence?

While jednak means 'however', it often sounds more natural in the middle of a Polish clause rather than at the absolute beginning. Placing it right after sojusznikom puts a slight emphasis on the allies, showing that despite whatever was just mentioned, they still care about the alliance.