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- Topic: Polish >
- "Ja jestem człowiekiem."
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What is the difference between człowiek and człowiekiem? And while we are at it, what's up with the words ending with 'iem'? They seem to be totally arbitrary :/
The difference is grammar. Polish has declension of nouns. człowiek is Nominative, człowiekiem is instrumental. Polish has two ways of translating He is human.
On jest człowiekiem (instrumental)
On to człowiek.(nominative)
Only one of those can be also applied to "me, you, we, you" "jestem człowiekiem"
Read more about "to" and instrumental at: https://www.duolingo.com/skill/pl/Defining
Normal Instrumental ending for singular nouns is "-em" after "k" or "g" it's softened to "-iem".
791
For masculine and neuter nouns, yes, but to avoid confusion, for feminine nouns it's "ą".
and is it possible to say: to jest człowiek? and it has the same meaning as in to człowiek?
"To jest człowiek" = "To człowiek" = "[This/That/It] is a man" (I guess possibly "He is a man" as well in a proper context).
I just read another thread where człowiekiem was accepted as person, and here it's not.
The człowiek/person thing is a difficult one, as they're used quite differently between Polish and English. As this sentence is really like "I am a human being" (and not a Wookie, Klingon or some other alien), it shouldn't accept 'person' in my opinion.
So how would you say "I am a person"? Is there a more relevant word?
"Я человек" in Russian is "I am a person", so why is the cognate "człowiekiem" not able to be translated as "person" as "человек" can be?
- 212
Я - человек translates to I am a human (being).
I am a person means Я - личность in Russian
Well, we consider "person" and "human" to not be the same thing. Imagine sci-fi movies, all the sentient aliens there are persons, but not humans. Same with fantasy, like Tolkien.
I am a little confused about the English translation. What is the difference between "I am a human" and "I am a person"? Why is the former right but the latter wrong? I mean, obviously there are two English words, so I know there can be a difference, I just don't get what it is.
człowiek - a man/a human being (broad definition of homo sapiens)
osoba, postać - a person, a character (may relate to the abstract reality
a/the human is a noun - człowiek/ istota ludzka (rzeczownik)
human is an adjective ("it is human to err") - ludzki, człowieczy (przymiotnik)
"Jestem dziewczynką"
Dziewczynka też jest człowiekiem - The girl is a human being too
- 212
I am a man was also accepted, can you clarify, if that means only a human being, or it might be understood as a male human being?
Thanks
- 212
I wonder why my question was downgraded and still not answeres, does it sound any stupid, or whatever?
Your question is justified (do not worry about the downvoting... )
The sentence "Ja jestem człowiekiem" refers to the most general definition of a man, human being
(człowiek, istota ludzka) as one
of the members of the species homo sapiens. In that sense it does not refer to the gender or character, so it has little to do with the words like "a male", "a person", or "an individual" which might be
true, but they have much narrower, at times abstract meaning.
człowiek means either "human" or "man." If you hover over the word "człowiek" in this example it says "man". Duolingo should fix this. Either translation is valid.
I have no idea why the hint "human" was missing. I added it, but it may take a few days to go live.
