Breakdown of Mój przodek był z tego plemienia.
być
to be
ten
this (m)
mój
my
z
from (+ Genitive)
plemię
tribe
przodek
ancestor
Questions & Answers about Mój przodek był z tego plemienia.
Why does the word for tribe change to plemienia here?
The dictionary form is plemię, which is a neuter noun ending in -ę. Because it follows the preposition z (meaning 'from'), it needs to be in the genitive case. Neuter nouns ending in -ę (like imię or zwierzę) add an -n- stem before their case endings, so plemię becomes plemienia.
Why use tego instead of to before plemienia?
tego is the genitive form of to ('this'). Modifiers must always match the case and gender of the noun they describe. Since plemienia is neuter and in the genitive case, the pronoun must be the neuter genitive tego.
The preposition z can mean 'from' or 'with'. How do I know which one it is here?
You can tell by the case of the noun that follows it! When z takes the genitive case, as in z tego plemienia, it means 'from' or 'out of'. If it meant 'with', it would take the instrumental case instead (z tym plemieniem).
What gender is the noun przodek?
przodek (ancestor) is a masculine personal noun. You can see this reflected in the past tense verb był, which is the masculine form for 'was'.
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