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Adjective endings in the statement "Kobieta ma d³ugie w³osy"



nukefusionThreads: 3
Posts: 5
Joined: Jan 8, 09 		  Mar 7, 09, 09:45 /  #
Ok, I hope someone can help prevent me from going mad. I'm trying to get my head around adjectives endings agreeing with the gender of the noun. The phrase "Kobieta ma d³ugie w³osy" appears in Rosetta Stone and it has me confused. Maybe I'm confused because there is some other magical case that is coming into play here that I am yet to cover. Maybe I'm confused because Rosetta Stone doesn't explain anything.

Anyway, the thing is, I thought "w³osy" was a masculine noun, so I would have expected the word "long" to be written as "d³ugi". Additionally, "kobieta" is feminine, so which part has to agree with which?

Can somebody please explain this in a, bite sized, "Polish for Dummies" style format, so that my poor brain can understand what is happening? :) Thanks.
chiThreads: -
Posts: 38
Joined: Jan 3, 09 		  Mar 7, 09, 10:26 /  #
nukefusion:
which part has to agree with which

adjective has to agree with the noun it describes
so
w³os is singular so in this case you would of course have d³ugi (jaki?)
w³osy is plural that's why it's d³ugie (jakie?)
nukefusionThreads: 3
Posts: 5
Joined: Jan 8, 09 		  Mar 7, 09, 10:38 /  #
I see, thanks for the explanation. It seems a bit confusing I guess because you wouldn't say in English, "That woman with long hairs". :)

I was looking at this table: en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Polish/Adjectives
(Sorry I couldn't post the link in tags, it wouldn't let me)

Is it any good? It looks to me like that table says that plural adjectives that are masculine end in Y if they would end in I in the singular. Is the table wrong or am I just reading it incorrectly? I can't see a case on there where it metions IE as an ending for masculine gender...
chiThreads: -
Posts: 38
Joined: Jan 3, 09 		  Mar 7, 09, 10:52 /  #
you have a table there (coloured) and it explains it quite well - w³os is inanimate masculine so in plural it declines as "other genders": -e / ie :)
nukefusionThreads: 3
Posts: 5
Joined: Jan 8, 09 		  Mar 7, 09, 11:01 /  #
Ah, I see it now. Thanks for your patience and for taking the time to explain it to me. I end up "thinking myself stupid" sometimes :D
chiThreads: -
Posts: 38
Joined: Jan 3, 09 		  Mar 7, 09, 11:17 /  #
You're welcome :)
I know how difficult it might be...:)
... used to teach Polish a Brazilian girl and saw how difficult it was for her.... but she got there eventually :)
so I'm sure you can do it....:)
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