"I have new underpants."
Translation:Mam nowe majtki.
14 Comments
Adding this to my list of indespensible phrases for my trip to Poland.
What gender are majtki, please? Also, I think 'spodnie' were treated as plural in an earlier exercise. Are 'majtki' also plural? Thanks.
Yes, both these words are plurale tantum. Just like in English, actually.
And just like in English, you can say "a pair of" (para + Genitive) to denote just one pair :)
'not masculine-personal plural'. I don't know if there's any plurale tantum word that denotes people, so I guess either all or almost all such words are not masculine-personal plural.
Thanks very much. I hadn't previously understood what you meant by 'plurale tantum' but have now got it from Wikipoedia, so I understand your reply.
Please, I still don't understand whether majtki is feminine or neuter. I'm guessing feminine but can't verify that on online dictionaries, where is just says "plural"
And frankly, that's the answer. In plural, there isn't really a distinction between masculine, feminine and neuter, as there are only two plurals: masculine personal (groups with at least one man) and not masculine-personal (everything else). Obviously, with almost any plural noun, you can talk about its gender in singular. But only 'almost any'. As plurale tantum nouns simply do not have a singular version, they're neither masculine, feminine nor neuter, they're 'not masculine-personal plural'.
