"Starzy chłopcy mają wino i ciasteczka."
Translation:The old boys have wine and cookies.
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Maybe the sentence is referring to multiple Josh Brolins.
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I would love to have an explanation of the plural adjective endings. -e, -i, -y, changing the root word spelling... I am confused!
I would too - right now, I'm assuming (until proven wrong) that "ry" in singular adjectives becomes "rzy" when pluralized.
my impression is that this -ry/-rzy root change only occurs when dealing with plural masculine personal nouns (boys, men, people). otherwise it gets the "normal" -e ending. eg. stare domy - old houses.
You can say "old boys" in English to mean elderly men (in a friendly way). Is it the same in Polish?
I don't think so. "starzy chłopcy" sounds rather absurd to me. Although I guess someone with a sense of humour could come up with such a phrase...
Usually without wine, it's too expensive to waste it on children, who will probably not appreciate the taste.
Cultural differences are always interesting: when I've read your comment the first thing I thought was: in Italy cookies are more expensive than wine :)
Old boy can mean:
- An old man, "The old boy next door"
- A male friend of many years acquaintance, "Hello, old boy"
- A man who went to a particular school as a child, "The old boys are holding a reunion"
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/old-boy
But not an actual boy who is old. That would be an older boy, because all boys are young.
So what does "Starzy chłopsy" mean?
Nothing, really. Just boys that are old. Which is an oxymoron.
It's time to remove this sentence and substitute it with "starzy mężczyźni".
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If it's not children then 'guys' is more applicable than 'boys', imho; Regretfully, not accepted by duo;
Mods?
Colloquial certainly, but: 'and good old boys are drinking whisky and rye and singing "This'll be the day that I die."' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yHTpGog0IY