Breakdown of Chcemy pokonać strome zbocze.
chcieć
to want
stromy
steep
zbocze
the mountain slope
pokonać
to overcome; defeat
Questions & Answers about Chcemy pokonać strome zbocze.
What does chcemy mean, and what form is it?
Chcemy means we want.
It is the 1st person plural form of the verb chcieć (to want):
- chcę = I want
- chcesz = you want
- chce = he/she/it wants
- chcemy = we want
- chcecie = you all want
- chcą = they want
So Chcemy pokonać... literally starts as We want to overcome...
Why is pokonać in the infinitive?
Because after chcieć (to want), Polish normally uses the infinitive, just like English often uses to + verb:
- Chcę iść. = I want to go.
- Chcemy pokonać strome zbocze. = We want to overcome/climb the steep slope.
So the pattern is:
chcieć + infinitive
What exactly does pokonać mean here?
Pokonać can mean several related things, depending on context:
- to overcome
- to defeat
- to get past
- to cover/traverse
In this sentence, with strome zbocze (a steep slope), it means something like:
- to overcome
- to make it up
- to get over
- to tackle successfully
So it suggests successfully dealing with the difficulty of the slope, not just physically seeing it or approaching it.