Breakdown of Wydaje nam się, że to tylko wyobraźnia.
tylko
only
to
is (linking copula)
że
that
nam
us (dative)
Questions & Answers about Wydaje nam się, że to tylko wyobraźnia.
Why do we use the Dative pronoun nam here instead of the Nominative my?
In Polish, expressing impressions with wydawać się requires an impersonal structure. The verb is in the third-person singular (wydaje się meaning it seems), and the person having the impression takes the Dative case (nam meaning to us). You are the receiver of the impression, not the one doing the seeming.
Why is the word order wydaje nam się rather than wydaje się nam?
Both are technically correct, but wydaje nam się has a more natural rhythm. Short pronouns like nam and się like to cluster together. Putting the Dative pronoun nam right after the verb and followed by się is the standard, smooth way native speakers sequence this phrase.
I learned that describing what something is usually requires the Instrumental case. Why is wyobraźnia in the Nominative case here?
You need the Instrumental case when you explicitly use the verb jest to link a subject and a noun, like in the phrase To jest wyobraźnią. However, when you use the pronoun to on its own as the linking word (acting as it is or this is), the noun that follows stays in the basic Nominative case.
Doesn't the verb wydawać normally mean to spend money?