"Tamto małżeństwo ma dziecko."
Translation:That married couple has a child.
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I think "couple" should be fine instead of "married cople". Sounds more natural to me.
Maybe couple is shorter and more handy but I don't believe it is as precise as Polish "małżeństwo”, which is a couple that is married from the legal point of view.
As the English definition of "couple" includes the definition you provided, I'm tempted to agree with awzool on this one.
for me as an English mother tongue speaker, couple and married couple ARE different, not every couple that has children is married...and, as in Polish, 'married' couple is specific
Usually just "para", which means exactly "a couple" (also "a pair", e.g. "para butów" = "a pair of shoes").
Even though it refers to two people, the word "małżeństwo" is grammatically singular. Neuter singular, to be precise.
Similarly "rodzeństwo" (siblings) is also singular.
This made me think: I would, without thinking, say, "That married couple have a child." It feels natural for me to say that instead of "has a child". Unfortunately, I can't get my head around all of the grammatical details, but if I would say, and I would, "A (implying the singular) married couple" then...I have always been wrong
That depends on whether you speak American English or British English, I believe. Both "have" and "has" are accepted.
If we wanted to use a generic "couple" would we just use "para" as in: Para ma dziecko? (and is para also a singular noun?)
"para" is a singular feminine noun for a couple. "Para ma dziecko" is correct.
It has already been said but I'll say it again: although malzenstwo in Polish specifically refers to a married couple, in English we just say couple. It is simple but it could constitute a de facto couple or married couple so it really should be accepted in this exercise
But then in Polish we could also just use "para" to refer to people that are married. It's the same as calling them a couple in English. Therefore actually saying "małżeństwo" explicitly stresses the fact that they are married.
We would rarely say that married couple has a child- always - that 'couple' has a child
Maybe, but nothing about the word 'couple' mentions that they are married, while "małżeństwo" is exactly that - two people that are married.
Yes I understand. But in English, it implies they are in a relationship or married.
I really need to wrap my head around the cases. I would expect "child" to be in a different case since it is a direct object. However, it was nominative. What is a good, clear resource to better understand the cases. I already tried wikipedia.
This is actually in the Accusative case, it just has the same form as the Nominative case - such is the nature of neuter-gendered nouns.
Tamto małżeństwo ma córkę (NOM: córka --> ACC: córkę) -- córka is a feminine noun.
Tamto małżeństwo ma syna (NOM: syn --> ACC: syna) -- syn is a masculine personal noun.
Tamto małżeństwo ma dziecko (NOM: dziecko --> ACC: dziecko) -- dziecko is a neuter noun.
As far as I know, the word "marriage" is for the state, for the union, but you cannot describe two people and say "They are a marriage".
What in the original sentence indicates it I a couple rather than a group of married people?
"małżeństwo" is not some collective noun like let's say "społeczeństwo" (the society) or "młodzież" (the youth, the young people), it refers to one married couple. It can be pluralized, you could say "tamte małżeństwa" (those married couples).