"Your back is red."
Translation:Twoje plecy są czerwone.
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But why do I have two (or more) backs?
Caliban says "They are making the creature that has two backs" in Shakespeare's The Tempest - but that can't really be the answer here...
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You obviously have just one back. Thats also the meaning in the polish sentence, off course. The polish language just has words, that are always used in the plural form. Like plecy here. Others may be 'drzwi', 'urodzine', ...
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For those of us who haven't done the latin course yet what does "pluralia tantum" mean?
Are you saying that in modern Polish personal (Twój) and impersonal (Wasz) are only used in singular and plural situations? It gets complicated for me when I consider that "back" is a plural word and "your" is an adjective that should agree. Please explain further! Thank you.
Twój is the second person singular possessive pronoun, and wasz the second person plural possessive pronoun. In Early Modern English there used to be the same distinction (thy/your).
It's twoje here because it agrees with the plural noun plecy.
I've just checked your progress and you're at crown level 5 in the "Formal you" skill, so I'm just going to refer you to the Tips & Notes on that topic:
But if you were speaking to a group of people who had been in the sun too long, then you could say "Wasze plecy są czerwone", correct?
But then that wouldn't be "your back" in English but "your backs", right?
Unless of course you're not claiming that this should be an accepted answer. Yes, on its own that Polish sentence makes perfect sense.
Okay, but if "plecy" means "back", then what's the word for "shoulders"?
I think that technically that's "barki" (sing. "bark"), but many people would say "ramiona" (sing. "ramię"), although that word can be used for the whole arm, especially upper arm.