"This is a good meal."
Translation:To jest dobry posiłek.
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Because "this" is not used as a pronoun here (this dog, this man, this bottle), but as a subject (This IS). And the sentences of "This is/These are" model always require 'to' which is then not a neuter pronoun but the subject as well: To jest/To są.
While the meaning may be close, "jedzenie" is "food", so it's not exactly the same as "meal".
What's the grammatical reason that "dobry posiłek" isn't in the instrumental here? I thought there was no predicate nominative in Polish?
To put it simply, sentences that would translate to English as "this is…" use nominative.
Can you tell me what the use in learning this way would be? I want to communicate, not translate English. Thanks
Because for some people it's easier to understand and to explain. If you don't want to translate every time, then imagine in what situation you would use "this is" in English, "rewire your brain" to use the Polish equivalent in those situations, and you're done. There are no exceptions to this that come to my mind.
It's a very practical spelling convention. Since si is always pronounced "śi", the diacritical mark is omitted. It's a mistake not to omit it. Same goes for ci and zi.
"dobra" is feminine singular, "dobre" is either neuter singular or 'not masculine-personal plural' (non-virile), "dobry" is masculine singular. They have to match the noun they refer to.