"A little boy"
Translation:Mały chłopiec
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What about 'mały chłopak'? Duo says its correct but what exactly is the difference between chłopak i chłopiec?
Chłopiec is the diminutuve form of chłopak. It basically means the same thing, just cuter.
Well, not really. Both 'chłopiec' and 'chłopak' used to be diminutives of 'chłop' (peasant, farmer), with 'chłopiec' being in fact the older word and 'chłopak' coming from the Masovian dialect and becoming more popular recently. I wouldn't say that 'chłopiec' sounds particularly cute to me.
The diminutive of 'chłopiec' is 'chłopczyk' and of 'chłopak' - 'chłopaczek'.
"Small" means "mały/a" while "little" evokes diminutive (=chłopczyk) and therefore the answer "chłopczyk"="little boy" should be accepted
Added the option to answer just "chłopczyk" without the adjective.
It's incorrect, because you need the adjective in the masculine form ('mały') to match the masculine noun ('chłopiec').
Of course! Now you say it, it makes perfect sense! But in my mind it's still hard to align all the adjectives and prepositions to the proper noun. Especially the y/e forms, since they are pronounced almost similarly. Thanks!
How do you know when its proper to use masculine or feminine forms of nouns?
Sorry, I don't follow, especially that you asked this under "a little boy", which is obviously masculine...