"Is an egg a vegetable?"
Translation:Czy jajko jest warzywem?
46 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Just to be clear, "czy jajko jest warzywem" is synonymous to "czy jajko to warzywo," right? I'm super early into this course so it may be answered later, but I figured I'd ask.
Also, if you were to say "jajko to warzywo?" In an interrogative tone in dialogue, would it be understood to be a question? Thanks!
I second that first question.
(I came here to ask the same thing)
I know (100% certain) that in:
X 'jest' Y, Y takes the instrumental, so 'warzywem'.
X 'to' Y, Y remains in nominative, so 'warzywo'.
BUT..... I also read in earlier comments that using 'to' instead of 'jest' would be odd if X was not a noun. (ie. To jest Y).
So just generally wondering if instead of 'Czy jajko jest warzywem', would'Czy jajko to warzywo' would be weird?
Both constructions are perfectly fine, because in both the word "jajko" (X - the subject of the sentence) is a noun:
(Czy) Jajko JEST warzywem?/ (Czy) jajko TO warzywo?
BUT...when the X (the subject) is not a noun, but a personal pronoun, the sentence "X TO Y"sounds too very weird to be used as an option:
He is a child - (On) JEST dzieckiem (instrumental)
She is a student - (Ona) JEST studentką (instrumental)
I am a teacher - (Ja) JESTEM nauczycielem (instrumental)
The "easy" Polish construction is easy because it is just
like the English predicate nominative which refers back
to the subject after the verb "to be" or "to become":
A dog (subject) is an animal (dog and animal - same thing) Pies (podmiot) TO zwierzę (pies i zwierzę - to tutaj to samo)
The other Polish construction uses the verb "to be", which requires the instrumental case for the following it noun:
A dog (subject) IS an animal - (is a member of animal class)
Pies (podmiot) JEST zwierzęciem (kim? czym? - Narzędnik)
I wish i could hear how they pronounce each option, every time. I think that would help me become more exposed to the language and fluent, instead of just training my eyes how to recognize the words visually. Because thats what is happening in this exercise. Unless im the only one that cant hear the options. Whats your opinion?
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Hmmm my first response was "To jajko warzywo?" and while I understand the correct answer, I'm not certain I understand why my answer was wrong?
I'm sorry for this, but I really need another source to learn Polish from. I'm finding that this app has been good for me to practice languages I know but learning from nothing it's been so confusing. Maybe I'm just stupid and using it wrong?
The app doesn't explain any of the rules or why a word is used differently or the different reasons for placements. We have to come to comments to get those answers and sometimes the comments are not enough. I get so confused and lost.
Please if anyone has any recommendations for learning this language from nothing I'd be grateful. If I am using the app wrong please correct me so I can get better. I'm trying to surprise my mother-in-law for her birthday next year.
Both are correct questions, but somehow you changed a vegetable to an animal between them...
For our question here, the valid answers are either "Czy jajko to warzywo?" or "Czy jajko jest warzywem?".
You may read more about those constructions here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/16373167 - disregard that it's a question, because the only thing that a question adds is (potentially) starting with "Czy" and ending with a question mark.
I was about to answer this question earlier with our usual explanations of X jest Y vs X to Y.
But then I thought the question was trying to provoke a debate about the ethics of eating eggs (ie... "Is an egg a vegetable [food] or an animal?")
So I steered clear.
Lol, I didn't even think that the word may have been changed mistakenly.
Am scared of such debates on Duolingo. Have seen some very toxic political ones here recently. Thought this was attempting to start one of those :/
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I hate that duolingo doesn't have exercises that explain how the grammar of polish works, I mostly have to figure it out by making mistakes and answer the right answer by remembering what the wrong ones were. Sometimes I look up on the internet on how the grammar works but english isn't my first language and so I first have to figure out what the terms are for english grammatical rules before I can understand the polish ones, and polish has grammatical rules that are used mostly in slavic languages alone, so most of the times I just get frustrated at not being able to figure out what my mistake was nor having any explanation on how the language works. Tl;dr I'd love to see extra exercises that teach how polish grammar works for example: instrumental case (narzednik). And how to apply that grammar instead of having to guess the right answer and loose interest in learning a new language