"Ja jestem człowiekiem."
Translation:I am a human.
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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".
1495
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?
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
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.