# Czy jest pan doktor / doktorem ?



## Rallino

Cześć,

I am studying Polish from _Assimil : Le polonais sans peine_, and it says that when we talk about someone's profession, we use instrumental (if we have used the verb « to be »).

Na przykład:
*
Marek jest doktorem. * / *Marek to doktor.

Marcin jest mój kuzynem. */ *Marcin to mój kuzyn.*

This is clear. However, in the following dialogue, there is the sentence: « _Halo, nazywam się Marek Bielak. Czy jest pan doktor ? »._

Why is it not "doktorem" ?  Am I missing something ?


Thanks!


----------



## dreamlike

"Czy jest pan doktorem? would mean a completely different thing. "Are you a doctor? (is this your profession?)

"Czy jest pan doktor?" means "Is a doctor there?". It's a polite form, one asks whether the doctor has already arrived. (For instance)


----------



## Rallino

Oh, then the translation of the dialogue is wrong, because it says : "Are you the doctor?".

So, you are saying that *pan*, in this sentence, does not mean _you (in polite form)_, but in fact *pan doktor *are together, sort of like: _Mister doctor.

_Thank you very much, dreamlike! It is clear now.


----------



## LilianaB

If you mean a medical doctor, Rallino, you should say: lekarzem. Czy jest Pan lekarzem. In my opinion _Czy jest Pan doktor_ is a mistake, nothing more, if the expression was meant as a question about somebody's profession. It should have been: Czy jest Pan lekarzem (doktorem) Yes, and in a context where somebody is at the reception desk at a doctor's office with a single doctor, and the person says: My name is X. Czy jest doktor. It means, in this particular situation, _Is the doctor in_? Czy jest Pan doktor, if you want to make it more formal. 

Nazywam sie Kowalski. Czy jest Pan lekarzem? My name is Kowalski. Are you a doctor? Pan is a polite form here, third person singular.


----------



## dreamlike

There's nothing exceptional about "Czy jest Pan doktor?", to say the least. It's would not be uncommon to hear people use it while waiting in a line in a clinic. It's not a mistake, if you ask me.


----------



## majlo

It's not a mistake for sure. It only depends what you want to convey.


----------



## dopethrone

By the way, it should be "Marcin jest *moim* kuzynem."


----------

