"Kaczki to zwierzęta."

Translation: Ducks are animals.

[RyanMatthe12]

I don't understand why it's "Kaczki to." Why isn't is "Kaczki sa?"

[tadjanow]

You can say 'Kaczki są zwierzętami.'

[karol2016]

We can say:
,,Kaczki to zwierzęta" -zwierzęta is Nominative
Or
,,Kaczki są zwierzętami" - zwierzętami is Instrumental
Both are correct

[TexMexChica]

"To" means "are" and "this" based on context, then?

[immery]

basically yes. you can look at it like that.

[MarioCr1]

Is "zwierzęta" accusative? I don't understand exactly when i have to use the instrumental case(apart from the verb "byc")

[adriantoine]

"zwierzęta" is nominative here, you have to use instrumental after "być" (ex: Kaczki są zwierzętami) and nominative after "to" (ex: Kaczki to zwierzęta).

[conor.raff]

However "to jest X" or "to są Y" will produce the nominative too, so not every use of "być" produces instrumental.

[Brennan36894]

What I've learned is the difference between using "to" and "być (jestem, jesteś...)" is that "to" is used more colloquially and informally.

[kenehcob]

A duck is not an animal, it is a bird. kaczka jest ptak

[Emwue]

• „Kaczka jest ptakiem” or
• „Kaczka to ptak”

In 'x is y' nominative after to, instrumental after jest.

Birds are a type of animal, so a duck is an animal too. ;)

[JaniceSchl1]

Kaczki to ptaki?

[Matthew_Phelps]

Also, if I'm not wrong, if you wanted to say a duck is a bird, you'd say "kaczka jest ptakIEM"

[Kelly751593]

Birds are animals too

[tryingveryhard]

Birds are animals...

[JoeFolsom]

I think Ducks, those are animals should be accepted, as it is a more direct translation, even though it sounds odd.

[Jellei]

I don't think it's a more direct translation. It's like: Kaczki... to są zwierzęta... The sentence here is very simple, X are Y.

[Maggi698890]

Other than colloquially are there any more distinctions between using "to" and "być"? "To" is not a verb, so it's difficult for English speakers to understand just how it is used here. The case is not accusative so it is like the whole phrase "kaczka to ptak" is the subject in the sentence. Also if the word "zwierze" does not include birds it has a different meaning than "animal".

[Krisztin289938]

As a hungarian I totally understand the use of 'to' here. We have a similar structure. Thank you for the explanation.

[Kevin466709]

Why not "Kaczki są zwierzęta"?

[Jellei]

Please read Part 1 here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/16373167

[tryingveryhard]

a fascinating discovery :0