15 Comments
It is declension, the Nominative form is "jedzenie".
"bez" takes Genitive.
In some case, "bez" forms a prefix to the following word, e.g. "Bezpłatny". In other cases, like this one, "bez" is separate from the following word. I suppose there is no handy rule to remember which applies :-) ?
I'd say that "bez" = "without" and there simply are some adjectives that have it as a prefix :)
There are some words with bez, which without the bez are not words anymoreb lime bezpieczny
Yes. You'd expect "dangerous" to be some word like "pieczny", but in fact "dangerous" seems to be "niebezpieczny" :-)
EDIT: My biggest dictionary, the PWN Wielki Słownik, does show the word "piecza" which it marks as "literary" meaning "care" in the sense of looking after somebody. Maybe it's related to "pieczny*"
Polish language is constantly evolving (like others). Yes, "piecza" = "opieka" = care; mieć pieczę = opiekować się = take care.
Other:
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robota = a work; bezrobotny = unemployed; where robotny = pracowity = hard-working. And employed = zatrudniony; employee = pracownik.
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dusza = a soul; bezduszny = nieczuły = soulless / unfeeling; where duszny = stifling. And soulful = uduchowiony.
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nadzieja = a soul; beznadziejny = hopeless; (there is no Polish word 'nadziejny'; where hopefull = pełen nadziei / obiecujący.
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broń = a weapon; bezbronny = helpless; obronny = defensive; helpful = pomocny
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Bóg = God; bezbożny = godless / ungodly; godly = pobożny
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ceremoniał = etykieta = etiquette; bezceremonialny = nonszalancki = flippant; ceremonialny = obrzędowy = ceremonial
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czelność = śmiałość = daring; bezczelny = shameless / insolent; shameful = haniebny
My favorite example regarding Polish adhesions is niebieski = blue. Before Christianity Slavic people had Slavic mythology. They believed that demons biesy lived on the earth / in the earth's abyss (e.g. rivers). So when we were taught about Christian God that lives in the sky in the Heaven we called it Niebiosa (probably then it was nie-biesy - the place without demons). The sky has blue color so: a sky = niebo, a Heaven = Niebo/Niebiosa; blue = niebieski (before, it was modry); heavenly = niebiański (then it was niebieski too). BTW. Księżyc means książę nocy - the prince of the night. I never read Sapkowski but probably a lot of his succes is thanks to Slavic mythology.
Now, that last example is fascinating, and I thank you very much for explaining it! Up till now, I had just assumed that the initial "nie" was coincidentally like "not", and didn't actually have any significance.
Yes. That is true in English too. You can "dismantle" something (= take it to pieces) but you can't "mantle" it back together again. Many other examples exist :-)
Why is it the question in English? In Polish we have intonation so question mark is ok. But in Englis why we don't have questioning style?
It is a valid way of asking a question in English. This form would often be used to express surprise: "What! Two days without eating?!".
