# śniadaniem jest kanapka z serem i mleko



## pacadansc

Cześć ! I have a question about the following sentence that I have seen on another web site (no further context available) :

Śniadeniem jest kanapka z serem i mleko.

I am wondering why "śniadanie", which appears to be the subject of the sentence, would be in the instrumental case. I would have exjpected "kanapka" to be in the instrumental case instead.

Would it be just as correct to say :

Śniadanie jest kanapką z serem i mleko.  (?)

Many thanks / Dziękuję.


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## Ben Jamin

In Polish when you state that X (subject, noun) is Y, (noun) you use the instrumental.
Examples: Jestem dyrektor*em* (I'm a/the manager)
Jesteś dzieck*iem *(You are a child).

Here "kanapka z serem i mleko" is the subject of the sentence (X).
The order of the sentence kan be reversed: "kanapka z serem i mleko są/jest śniadaniem"
The sentence, however, can also be turned around: "Śniadanie jest kanapk*ą* z serem i mlek*iem", *but this sounds rather weird even if it is gramatically correct, while "Śniadanie jest kanapk*ą* z serem*" *is better, but rather unusual.


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## pacadansc

Ben Jamin said:


> Examples: Jestem dyrektor*em* (I'm a/the manager)
> Jesteś dzieck*iem *(You are a child).
> "kanapka z serem i mleko"
> "kanapka z serem i mleko są/jest śniadaniem"
> "Śniadanie jest kanapk*ą* z serem i mlek*iem"*



Thank you for taking the time to explain this. I notice, though, that in all of your examples the sentence begins with the nominative case, and the instrumental case follows the verb "jest" or "są"   
The thing that puzzled me about the example that I started with is that the Instrumental case came before the verb : "Śniadanie*m* jest ...", and I wonder if that is correct/usual. 
Thanks.


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## Gochna

Yes, you can start your sentence with the instrumental case:

_Dyrektorem szkoły jest Jan Kowalski, który cieszy się dużym uznaniem wsrod uczniów_ (The School Principal is Jan Kowalski, who is well liked/respected by the pupils)

You could also say :

_Jak Kowalski jest dyrektorem szkoły do której pójdzie moja córka_ (Jan Kowalski is the principal of the school where my daughter will go)

You can choose the word order based on what follows just like saying "school principal" or "principal of the school" in the examples above.


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## Europadia

I agree 100% with Ben Jamin.
Now, to your recent question: it is normal in all languages that have declination to use parts of a sentence in various orders. You may this way *put emphasis* on one element or another but the meaning remains the same. _Śniadaniem jest/są kanapka z serem i mleko_ and _Kanapka z serem i mleko są/jest śniadaniem_ are both correct and usual. As I've said, the specific order puts emphasis on the first element, for example if you say _Adam jest dyrektorem szkoły_ - you just inform what Adam's job is; for the same purpose, the reversed order would sound weird. Now, if you talk about the school director and want to add [second logical information] that it is Adam, the normal order will be _Dyrektorem szkoły jest Adam._
Coming back to your original sentence, and adding/changing some more elements, _Moim śniadaniem była tylko kanapka z serem i mleko _is the only order that sounds natural.


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## Europadia

I see now, after adding my reply, that Gochna had thought of a similar example. Telepathy? ;-)


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## Gochna

Europadia said:


> I see now, after adding my reply, that Gochna had thought of a similar example. Telepathy? ;-)



Great (and modest) minds think alike


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## jasio

If I may add a few thoughts to this nice discussion:

In Polish, subject is almost exclusively in the nominative case. There are some more or less regular exceptions (the most notable are negative phrases which express non-existance or non-presence of the subject, which is then in Genitive case), but in general, if something appears to be the subject but is not in the nominative case, my first advice would be to look for another subject candidate. 

Unlike English or German, in Polish there is NO rule which would require that the subject goes before the object. On the contrary, as my predecessors explained, the words in the phrase may go in virtually any given order. Some orders may sound awkward for a native ear or a native speaker would never or rarely use it (or, sometimes, would use to give a phrase a specific shade), but other than that, most of the cases a simple phrase would be understandable regardless of the word order. As someone pointed out, you may use the word order to stress some information or for stylistical reason, to better link the phrase with the preceding or the following statement, etc.

Considering the above, normally I would object against 'The School Principal is Jan Kowalski', because it would sound to me like 'dyrektor szkoły jest Janem Kowalskim', and I do not think, I've ever encountered this order in a text written by a native English speaker, but since @Gochna lives in Canada, I admit that she may know better. ;-)

Unlike English, but similarly to (some) Romance languages, like Italian and Spanish, the subject is *not* a mandatory part of a sentence. Subject may be default,  derived from a context, the phrase itself may be impersonal, etc - that's why the Slavs sometimes omit the subject in English.
With regards to the breakfast and cheese: I have an impression that virtually none of the phrases above sound natural for me in a context-less situation, though in certain context some of them would do. For me the most natural syntax would be "_Na śniadanie jest *kanapka z serem i mleko*_" (the subject is bolded). '_Śniadaniem jest *kanapka z serem i mleko*_' sounds a bit awkward, but I can imagine using it in certain situations. Please note a semantic difference between the two, though: in case of the former, I would expect that although the cheese sandwitch and a glass of milk are main parts of the breakfast, there may (or may not) be some other ingredients as well, like a bit of jam, marmelade or honey, an additional slice of bread etc. In case of the latter, I would rather expect, that we're discussing a dietetic breakfast, which  comprises exclusively of a sandwich and a glass of milk - and that's it.


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## pacadansc

Hello all, 
It took me a while to read through carefully and thoughtfully all of your kind responses. I'm still very much a beginner in Polish, and all of your explanations and examples are truly helpful. Even reading the same or similar response from a different point of view is quite helpful. 
Jeszcze raz bardzo dziękuję.


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