24 Comments
Doesn't "To" mean "This" in polish? Or is it because of the "Są" Anybody know?
You are correct. "To" can mean both "this" and "these". "Są" is third person plural, so "to są" means "these are".
Why is this not in the genitive? I thought negative sentences took the genitive.
I understood the same. The voice is very unclear sometimes. And I live in Warsaw and am used to people talking...
Why is this not the Instrumental case here: If the sentence was "these are tomatoes" it should be Instrumental, ie. "To są pomidorami"...
I presume we don't use the Intstrumental case if we are classifying in the NEGATIVE, and so we revert to? Nom. or Acc.?
My mistake, its Nom. case because the construction is "To jest/są Y" and not "X jest/są Y" (which would be instrumental case)
Oh, I had been wondering for the same thing before I saw your comment, thanks for the explanation!! I forgot that rule too!
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What is or would be the difference between "These are not" and "Those are not" or are they the same as both are accepted?
Why is this not "Te nie są pomidory"? "Te" is the nonpersonal plural of "ten," right?
You'd be right, but in a "This/That is Y"/"These/Those are Y" sentence, the subject is always "to". It's not a neuter determiner then, it's a dummy pronoun.
So: "To nie są pomidory", but "Te pomidory są smaczne".
I still don't understand how the plural is formed in Polish, I guess I'll have to search for a chart with the cases and all that stuff, but if anyone can help me... It would be amazing :)
