Breakdown of Cena tego minerału zależy od jego koloru.
ten
this (m)
kolor
color
cena
price
jego
his, its
minerał
mineral
zależeć od
to depend on
Questions & Answers about Cena tego minerału zależy od jego koloru.
Why does the Polish sentence use 'od' instead of a literal translation for 'on'?
In Polish, the verb zależeć (to depend) always pairs with the preposition od (from) followed by the Genitive case. It is helpful to think of it literally as 'depends from' rather than 'depends on'. This is why we say zależy od jego koloru.
Why is 'tego minerału' in the Genitive case?
It acts just like the English word 'of'. In Polish, when you want to show a relationship or possession between two nouns, the second noun goes into the Genitive case. Here, the subject Cena (price) is followed by the Genitive tego minerału to mean 'the price of this mineral'.
Doesn't jego usually mean 'his'? Why is it used for 'its' here?
Yes, jego is the Genitive word for 'his', but it is also used for masculine inanimate objects. Because the noun minerał is grammatically masculine, any pronoun referring back to it must also be masculine. So in this sentence, jego translates perfectly to 'its'.
Why do both minerał and kolor get the -u ending in the Genitive case instead of -a?
Masculine inanimate nouns in the Genitive singular can end in either -a or -u. While the rules can be tricky, nouns describing materials, substances, and abstract concepts usually take the -u ending. Therefore, minerał becomes minerału and kolor becomes koloru.
Learn Cena tego minerału zależy od jego koloru and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free