# Beginner question: być and adjective endings



## surikatka

Cześć!

I am trying to teach myself some Polish and I have a question about the verb być and the instrumental case.  When I want to use an adjective, such as "'ładna," do I have to inflect it and make it "'ładną" in a sentence such as "Ona jest ładną"?  I know that if I have a noun following it it should use the instrumental case endings, such as "Ona jest ładną dziewcynką," correct?  

Dziekuję!


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## Karton Realista

No. If it is adjective standalone you leave it in peace and let it be nominative. 
If it is followed by a noun then as you said.
Btw: Dziewczynką, not dziewcynką.
And forget about ona, on or ono in sentences that don't really require it - jest ładna thrown into context is just enough.


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## surikatka

Dziekuję bardzo!!


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## Ben Jamin

Karton Realista said:


> No. If it is adjective standalone you leave it in peace and let it be nominative.
> If it is followed bz a noun then as you said.
> Btw: Dziewczynką, not dziewcynką.
> And forget about ona, on or ono in sentences that don't really require it - jest ładna thrown into context is just enough.


The sentence surikatka gave as an example needs a subject if the sentence stands alone. Otherwise you could get a following conversation:
A: Jest ładną dziewczynką.
B: Kto???!!
A  Ona, ta co idzie z przeciwka!

By the way, this conversation is unnatural, and not likely to happen in real life.

But if you place the sentence in a context:
A: Znasz Joannę?
B: Znam.
A: Kim ona  jest?
B: Jest ładną dziewczynką. Niczym więcej. (She's a pretty girl, nothing more)
NB: If speaking about an adult or adolescent female using "dziewczynka" in this context wil sound condescending.


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## Karton Realista

Ben Jamin said:


> By the way, this conversation is unnatural, and not likely to happen in real life.


Well, obviously, nobody just says "She's pretty" without a context and out of blue, that's why I say to drop the subject - it's not needed in proper context.
Unless a guy checks out a girl on the street, but it still would require at least a semi-complex structure like: look at her, she's pretty, ain't she? etc. (Spójrz no na nią, jest całkiem ładna, co nie?)
Does a conversation like that:
A: Ona jest ładną dziewczynką.
B: (...)
sound any more natural than the one you created?

People in general don't use ultrasimplistic sentences, but learners indeed do.
But all of that is just a digression, it doesn't matter to the main question.
And back to what you said, just for OP's clarity of mind, dziewczynka is a small girl, word for an older girl (and for girlfriend) is dziewczyna.


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## jasio

surikatka said:


> I know that if I have a noun following it it should use the instrumental case endings, such as "Ona jest ładną dziewcynką," correct?


Well... grammatically correct, but depending on context I might rather say "to jest ładna dziew*cz*ynka" (please mind the digraph "*cz*", but someone have already pointed it out).
Secondly, depending on the age of the person in question, the person who says the phrase, and the relationship between them, it may or may not be correct, might be taken as a kind of a humour, but might might be also taken as an offence. Theoretically, "dziewczynka" is a word used for young girls (primary school or younger), while the word used for teenagers is "dziewczyna". In practice, the primary school girls use the latter among themselves to pose more grown-up style, while the adult women use it among themselves to feel younger (I would discourage men to use it towards women unless they are close friends though). Consequently, "dziewczyna" is most universal.

On top of that, 'dziewczynka' used to address or refer to an adult woman could also be taken as 'a prostitute' or 'a easy woman'. If you're close friends and this kind of teasing is ok between you, it may be understood as a specific sense of humour. Otherwise however, I would suggest to refrain from using it unless you know what you're doing.


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## Karton Realista

jasio said:


> 'dziewczynka' used to address or refer to an adolescent woman could also be taken as 'a prostitute' or 'a easy woman'


We live 40 to 50 km from each other (and I'm in Warsaw 5/7 most of the year) in the same voivodeship and yet I feel right now like we live in two different Polands.
I am pretty young so I have fresh memories of "adolescence" and youth slang and I would never think that you can call a girl ages 13-16 a prostitute by saying that she is a little girl .
You could maybe say that to mean she's immature, but that would still sound clumsy.


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## Ben Jamin

Karton Realista said:


> We live 40 to 50 km from each other (and I'm in Warsaw 5/7 most of the year) in the same voivodeship and yet I feel right now like we live in two different Polands.
> I am pretty young so I have fresh memories of "adolescence" and youth slang and I would never think that you can call a girl ages 13-16 a prostitute by saying that she is a little girl .
> You could maybe say that to mean she's immature, but that would still sound clumsy.


That's not what Jasio said, he meant an adult woman. And well, an adolescent girl (12-17 I would say) would be offended being called "dziewczynka", but not as an allusion of a loose conduct, but because of feeling "grown up".

But you have also "discovered" an important thing: two native Polish speakers can speak very different mother tongues, a word can mean two different things for two different persons, all depending on age, social stratum, education, geography, personal idiosyncrasies, and so on. Thats why, also, we should avoid to give answers to other foreros, especially not native Polish speakers, that reflect our personal usage, but rather rely on standard language and dictionary definitions.


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