Chce spłacić pieniądze które jest dłużny. (Sentence Note)

  • dłużny (adj) = indebted, owed
  • dłużnik (mp noun) = debtor
English Translation

He wants to pay back the money he owes.

Owing someone something or being owed is something I always struggle with in Polish. Why is it “które jest dłużny” here? Shouldnt the adjective be in accordance to które? And if thats not the case, shouldnt a specific be used in the adjective?

“Dłużny” is used to describe the person who owes the money, and not the money itself. The adjective takes the masculine form because the implied subject is masculine, it could also be “dłużna” if the person was feminine.

having tried different variations of this sentence in DeepL I now realize that “jest” is refering back to “him”, ie, the person who owes the money and therefore is “dłużny”. In my mind, having the sequence “które jest dłużny” without having a dative pronoun in the middle really threw me off. Thanks for the clarification!