Questions & Answers about Zakończenie książki było smutne.
What does zakończenie mean and what is its gender?
Zakończenie is a noun meaning “ending” or “conclusion.” In Polish it is neuter gender, so any adjectives or past‐tense verbs referring to it must also take the neuter form.
Why does zakończenie end with -nie?
The suffix -nie is a common way to turn a verb into a noun that expresses the action or result of that verb. Here zakończyć (to finish) becomes zakończenie (the act/result of finishing).
Why is książki in the genitive case?
In Polish you say “the ending of something” as zakończenie czegoś, which requires the genitive. So książka (book) changes to książki (of the book).
Why do we use było instead of była or był?
The past‐tense form of “to be” must agree in gender with the subject. Since zakończenie is neuter, we use the neuter past było. For a masculine subject you’d say był, for a feminine była.
Why does smutne end with -e?