Can anyone explain the difference, if any, between ‘ciekaw’ and ‘ciekawy’. If one writes ‘Jestem ciekaw…’ or ‘jestem ciekawy…’, do they both mean ‘I am curious …’ or there some difference? Thanks
“Ciekaw” is another masculine variant of the adjective “ciekawy”. Both are perfectly correct and there isn’t any difference in meaning in this context. Here, you can say “Jestem ciekawy, kto to wymyślił” just as well.
However, “ciekawy” is generally more ambiguous, as this form is used to mean both “curious” (as in “curious person”) as well as “interesting” (as in “interesting topic”). “Ciekaw” can only mean the former.
One more thing: “ciekaw” is very rarely used on its own, so you can’t really expect to hear “Marek jest ciekaw”. It is almost always followed by something else:
- Marek jest ciekaw, kto napisał tę książkę. (“Marek is curious [to know] who wrote this book.”)
- Marek jest ciekaw, czy Anna zdała egzamin. (“Marek is curious [to know] if Anna passed the exam.”)
If the subject is feminine or neuter, you don’t really have any choice—the only feminine variant is “ciekawa”, and the only neuter one is “ciekawe”.
Another adjective that has two masculine variants is “pewien” / “pewny”. It works just like “ciekaw” / “ciekawy”.
If you’re ever confused by this, you can stick to using the basic “ciekawy” and “pewny” forms, as they’re more basic and universal.
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Thanks. I’ve now corrected my original question 
What was I thinking … writing ‘Jestem ciekawię’??? Glad you could see through my mistake!!!
Cheers
Well, “ciekawię” isn’t complete nonsense!
It’s actually the 1st person form of the verb “ciekawić”, which means “to make someone interested”, “to arouse interest”. You won’t hear the 1st person form often, but the 3rd person form is pretty common. For example:
- Ciekawi mnie, kto napisał tę książkę.
(“I’m curious [to know] who wrote this book.” / lit. “It makes me curious who wrote this book.”)
The meaning of the sentence above is exactly the same as if you said “Jestem ciekaw, kto napisał tę książkę”.
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