I was writing something yesterday, in Polish, as it happens, and I almost had a nervous breakdown. Why? Plural forms of \u201cnumber + noun\u201d combinations are enough to drive anyone insane, even a native Pole.<\/p>\n
And it all looked so simple! I was talking about body parts, more specifically, those body parts that come in twos.<\/p>\n
There was little problem with hands and legs:<\/p>\n
What was enough for a trip to an insane asylum was when I got to those body parts that are neuter in gender (when singular). You know, stuff like eyes and ears.<\/p>\n
In English, it\u2019s all so easy: one eye, two eyes. One ear, two ears. And your work here is done.<\/p>\n
In Polish, first you have to figure out what kind of ear or eye you\u2019re talking about.
\nWhen the noun is singular, it\u2019s fairly easy.<\/p>\n
Confused yet? No? OK, you just wait. You will be.<\/p>\n
So far so good. Then I tried to use these words as plural nouns. And remember, I was talking about body parts.<\/p>\n
but:<\/p>\n
OK, that wasn\u2019t too bad, right? Yeah, I thought so, too. And then I tried to say, or rather \u2013 write: two ears and two eyes. (And here, feel free to insert your favorite curse word, or two.)<\/em><\/p>\n It took me two s\u0142owniki ortograficzne<\/strong> and quite a bit of googling to get it right. And that was just in the nominative case! I\u2019m not going to touch the other cases with a ten foot pole (or a Hungarian, for that matter).<\/p>\n Ok, so how do we say \u201ctwo ears\u201d when talking about body parts?<\/p>\n Yeah, where did that come from?<\/p>\n And how about \u201ctwo eyes\u201d (body parts again)?<\/p>\n Finally, my friend, trying to be helpful suggested: \u201cOh, what the heck, just say \u2018a pair of eyes\u2019 and \u2018a pair of ears\u2019.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Yeah, easy for you to say. I give up. I need to call an expert. Where is Maciej Malinowski<\/strong> \u2013 mistrz polskiej ortografii<\/strong>, when you need him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was writing something yesterday, in Polish, as it happens, and I almost had a nervous breakdown. Why? Plural forms of \u201cnumber + noun\u201d combinations are enough to drive anyone insane, even a native Pole. And it all looked so simple! I was talking about body parts, more specifically, those body parts that come in…<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nIs it \u201cpara uszu\u201d or \u201cpara usz\u00f3w\u201d? And is it \u201cpara oczu\u201d or \u201cpara ocz\u00f3w\u201d? Or maybe \u201cpara \u00f3cz\u201d?<\/p>\n