"Czym jest miłość?"
Translation:What is love?
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798
I didn't know who Howard Jones was ,but heard this song once or twice on the radio. But even this has been some time ago, perhaps up to a decade already.
KOCHANIE MNIE NIE RAŃ, MNIE NIE RAŃ, WIĘCEJ
doesn't roll off the tongue quite the same.
Well, it's not so easy to translate songs neither from English to Polish nor from Polish to English.
Agreed! Just the other day, a good friend was swearing up and down how The Weekend's lyrics are NOT corny, just the translations are. :)
Certainly, Disney songs have very good Polish versions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4udfZegF4RM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BSY_bsfIvk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSIUYVvYnw8
Yes, however the "czym jest miłość" sounds a bit more natural to use, although both of them are completely correct
Why does co work less well here? What is the difference between co and czym?
Co is used for everything ambiguous and action related. "Co robisz?" Czym refers to things or concepts of which you are inquiring "Czym przyjedziesz?" (but not people, that's kim or kto) Just general observations in daily use.
- 153
I think "co" works less because love is abstract (feeling). More natural, and equally good with every noun as "czym jest X?" is "co to jest X?". "Czym jest krótkowzroczność" is as good as "Co to jest krótkowzroczność?"
To clarify, are you saying (among other things) that "Co to jest miłość?" sounds better than "Co to miłość"?
I would definitely agree. If I heard "Co to miłość?" it would probably take me a moment to understand what was meant, because it just seems to miss something.
In fact, I think you should make a pause before "miłość", and the sentence should be written as: Co to jest „miłość”? - given the fact that this way you're basically asking for a definition of this word.
"czym jest miłość" sounds like you're asking about the deeper meaning of love, whereas "co to miłość" sounds like you've never heard the term "love" before.
Plus it should be written as following: Co to "miłość"? - and prefarably I'd add "jest" as well.
- 902
Can anyone explain the difference between 'Czym jest' and 'Jaki jest'? I could get why we say czym here.
"Czym jest" would be "what is", a simple question. "Jaki/jaka jest" is "what is it like". This question is asking about certain traits of character or specific properties of something.
- 798
I wonder about why it has to be “czym” instead of “co”, although the most obvious answer is: Because it's the instrumental, which has to be used because of the verb, “být”. But why does “co” have to be adjusted in accordance with the grammatical case required in this sentence? Why can't we just leave it as “co”? Depending on what the iterator of the question had in mind to be answered, it should rather address the noun in the sentence, “miłość”, so that it should consequently be adjusted in accordance with the grammatical required, thus becoming “miłośćą”, if I am not mistaken. (It should be female)
I may humiliate myself either for the lack of knowledge in grammar presupposed at this level, or because I mistook what the question asks for. But anyway, I cannot stop wondering about why it is “czym” instead of “co”.
So you are asking why it's "Czym jest miłość" instead of "Co jest miłością"?
Since questions have the same case configuration as their answers, let's convert both sentences into an answer first:
Miłość jest pojęciem abstrakcyjnym. - Love is an abstract concept.
Miłością jest pojęcie abstrakcyjne. - The abstract concept is a love.
I've only replaced 'co' with the answer 'pojęcie abstrakcyjne' and kept the same case. Now, why does the second one sound so wrong?
The rule is: [Nominative noun] jest/są [instrumental noun] = [Nominative noun] is an element in a set of [instrumental noun].
Love is an element in the set of abstract concepts, but you can't say that an abstract concept is an element in a set of 'love'.
Here are some more examples:
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/26552000?comment_id=36056373
- 798
Ah, I see! So, love is the referrer to what has to be explained. It is love that was asked to be explained, and so the answer enquired to be given apparently had to be put into the instrumental case as it was about to be described.
Thanks a lot, I really misunderstood the introductory question to be translated, hence my confusion.
