"To są nasze butelki."
Translation:These are our bottles.
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"to jest/są" is set expression, meaning this is/these are. Te są nasze. - those are ours, works only when you point to your bottles.
It was the only word I heard being used to describe bottles as an child.I had never heard the word butelka until here. My parents were peasants with four half days of school so that explains a lot.
Also, the language changes, it might have been a completely normal word back then, I do not know that.
My mother spoke one type of Polish, learned from her parents, one gentry, one peasant. Her friend from Poland spoke another, also peasant during WWII. This lady's sister, born post war spoke another because of education.
Why are the bottles not in the instrumental case? We used a form of być before, that's why I am confused.
Bottles aren't in the instrumental because of "To." Thus, whereas you might say "on jest moim synem" or "auto jest drogim prezentem" (instrumental) you could also say "to (jest) mój syn" or "auto to drogi prezent" (nominative).
It's not instrumental, there was probably an error with the labels..
lol, sorry i read "Why are the bottles in the instrumental case?" After to it's always nominative, even if you use the verb być.
Those fits the bill also, when I was a kid , the folks called them flaszki, slang or ancient?
Colloquial, plus very strongly associated with alcohol. Maybe they didn't use to be.
I think because some years ago (in PRL) bottles were made only from the glass. And now mostly alcohol is in glassed bottles. Other bottles are from the plastic - so we don't call them "flaszki".
BTW. "Flaszka" come from german "Flasche" = butelka.
Walkinthedog, it doesn't have anything with education of your parents. But with development of the language - it is natural thing that often name which described something else in the past changed meaning, e.g. swastika.