Dostałem bezpłatny bilet na autobus.

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Breakdown of Dostałem bezpłatny bilet na autobus.

• na: for
• bilet: the ticket
• autobus: the bus

Questions & Answers about Dostałem bezpłatny bilet na autobus.

What does dostałem mean in this sentence?

dostałem is the first-person singular, past tense, perfective form of the verb dostać, which means “to get” or “to receive.” So Dostałem bezpłatny bilet na autobus literally translates as “I got/received a free bus ticket.”

Why is the adjective bezpłatny used instead of the adverb bezpłatnie?

bezpłatny is an adjective modifying the noun bilet (“ticket”), so it must agree in gender, number and case with that noun. The adverb bezpłatnie would modify a verb (e.g. Dostałem bilet bezpłatnie – “I received a ticket for free”). However, the standard collocation for describing a ticket that costs nothing is bezpłatny bilet (“a free ticket”).

What case is bilet in, and why?

Here bilet is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb dostałem. For inanimate masculine nouns like bilet, the accusative form is identical to the nominative.

Why is the preposition na followed by autobus (instead of another case or preposition)?