Breakdown of Jak odróżniasz diament od innego klejnotu?
jak
how
inny
other
odróżniać od
to distinguish from
diament
diamond
Questions & Answers about Jak odróżniasz diament od innego klejnotu?
Why do we use the preposition od here?
In Polish, verbs that express a difference or separation, like odróżniać (to distinguish) or różnić się (to differ), require the preposition od followed by the Genitive case. Here, od innego klejnotu shows what the diamond is being distinguished from.
What cases are being used with the verb odróżniasz in this sentence?
The verb odróżniać takes a direct object in the Accusative case (the thing you are looking at, which is diament) and relates it to something else using od + the Genitive case (the thing you are comparing it to, which is innego klejnotu).
Since diament is the direct object, why didn't its ending change?
Diament is indeed in the Accusative case. However, because it is a masculine inanimate noun (a non-living thing), its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its Nominative (dictionary) form.
Does inny mean "another" or "different"?
It means both! The adjective inny (here in the Genitive form innego) covers both "different" and "another" when you mean "an alternative one". If you meant "another" in the sense of "one more of the same", you would use jeszcze jeden instead.