{"id":168,"date":"2008-08-06T11:09:43","date_gmt":"2008-08-06T15:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=162"},"modified":"2014-06-10T14:40:30","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T14:40:30","slug":"ten-ta-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/ten-ta-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Ta To"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my last post I quoted a Japanese lady who is learning Polish in Tokyo. She kindly gave us several examples of why she likes Poland so much. And to show off her Polish grammar, she even used a variety of adjective-noun combinations. I don\u2019t know about you, but if it was me speaking in a difficult foreign language to a stranger, I\u2019d stick to one gender and one number, just to keep things simple (and not to make a fool out of myself). But not our new Japanese friend. She had to really show off. And by \u201creally show off\u201d I mean use all three genders in singular and one in plural. How\u2019s that for ambitious, huh?<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s take a closer look at what she said. She said that Poland was a beautiful country.
\npi\u0119kny kraj<\/strong> = beautiful country<\/p>\n

Now, remember what I said about Polish adjectives? That they have to agree in gender with the nouns they describe?
\n\u201cKraj<\/strong>\u201d (country) is a masculine (non-person) singular noun, so the adjective \u201cpi\u0119kny\u201d (beautiful) must also be masculine and singular. This is actually easy, because it just so happens that our wonderful Polish adjectives are listed in dictionaries in their masculine singular forms.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s move on to a feminine example:
\npi\u0119kna muzyka<\/strong> = beautiful music<\/p>\n

Because the adjective acquired a new ending \u201c-a<\/strong>\u201d, you can guess this is a feminine form. Hence you can also guess that \u201cmuzyka<\/strong>\u201d (music) is a feminine noun, because those adjectives and nouns must agree, right?<\/p>\n

And finally, our neuter example was about food. Atsuko said that she liked yummy food in Poland.
\npyszne jedzenie<\/strong> = yummy (good, tasty) food<\/p>\n

Again, the adjective got yet another ending, this time it\u2019s \u201c-e<\/strong>\u201d. And from that you can guess that we\u2019re talking about either a neuter singular form, OR a plural form which is NOT masculine. Unfortunately, in order to determine the exact gender, you have to take a look at the noun. And our noun \u201cjedzenie<\/strong>\u201d (food) is technically singular, technically neuter. (I\u2019m saying \u201ctechnically\u201d, because while it\u2019s feasible to make plural out of it, nobody really bothers \u2013 \u201cjedzenie<\/strong>\u201d is simply \u201cjedzenie<\/strong>\u201d.)<\/p>\n

So, now I\u2019m sure you want to ask if there is another way to distinguish between the genders. Well, sort of. Sometimes you will see a very handy little word, which is the Polish equivalent of \u201cthis\u201d. And now I\u2019m sure you want to ask what \u201cthis\u201d has to do with genders.<\/p>\n

Remember how I said that all those combinations must agree in number and GENDER? Polish \u201cthis\u201d is no different. It changes according to the gender of whatever noun it describes, just like an adjective.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s try it out in practice. Here we go, masculine first:
\nten kraj<\/strong> = this country
\nten<\/strong> = this \u2013 for masculine nouns (both person and non-person masculine)<\/p>\n

You can even say:<\/p>\n