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Questions & Answers about Ona rozlała herbatę na stół.
What does the ending -ła in rozlała tell me?
It marks past tense with a feminine singular subject: “she spilled.” If the subject were:
- masculine singular: rozlał
- neuter singular: rozlało
- plural (mixed or all-male): rozlali
- plural (all-female): rozlały
Do I need the pronoun Ona?
No. Polish usually drops subject pronouns when context is clear. Rozlała herbatę na stół is natural. Using Ona adds emphasis or contrast (She did it, not someone else).
Why is it herbatę and not herbata?
Because it’s the direct object, so it’s in the accusative case. For many feminine nouns ending in -a, the accusative singular ends in -ę: herbata (nominative) → herbatę (accusative). Note that after negation, Polish usually uses the genitive: Nie rozlała herbaty (“She didn’t spill (any) tea”).
Why na stół instead of na stole?
With na, use:
- Accusative for movement/direction: na stół = onto the table.
- Locative for location/state: na stole = on the table (already there).
So spilling onto a surface takes accusative: na stół.
What case is stół here, and why does it look like the dictionary form?
Accusative. Masculine inanimate nouns have the same form in nominative and accusative singular. Hence stół (nom/acc). Other cases: stołu (gen), stole (loc), stołem (instr).
How do I pronounce the special letters here?
- ł sounds like English “w” (so rozlała ≈ roz-LA-wa).
- ó sounds like “oo” in “food” (so stół ≈ stoow).
- ę at the end of a word is usually pronounced like plain “e” with light nasal color (so herbatę ≈ her-BA-teh). Polish stress is generally on the second-to-last syllable: roz-LA-ła, her-BA-tę.
Could I say po stole instead of na stół?
Yes, but it changes the nuance:
- na stół (accusative): movement onto the table (direction).
- po stole (locative after po): across/all over the table’s surface. Rozlała herbatę po stole suggests it spread over the table.
What’s the difference between rozlała and rozlewała?
Aspect. Rozlała is perfective (a single completed event: “spilled”). Rozlewała is imperfective (was spilling/used to spill/repeatedly spilled). For example:
- Wczoraj rozlała herbatę. = She spilled tea (once, done).
- Kiedy niosła filiżankę, rozlewała herbatę. = She was spilling tea.
How does rozlała compare to wylała?
Both can mean “spilled,” often interchangeably. Nuance:
- wylać tends to focus on pouring/spilling something out of a container.
- rozlać highlights the liquid spreading out over a surface. Context often makes either fine: Wylała/Rozlała herbatę na stół.
Polish has no articles—so how do I say “the tea” or “some tea”?
Context usually covers it. herbatę can mean “the tea” or “some tea.” To be explicit:
- “this tea”: tę herbatę (accusative of “ta herbata”)
- “some tea”: trochę herbaty or jakiejś herbaty (genitive).
Can I change the word order?
Yes. Polish word order is flexible and used for emphasis:
- Neutral: (Ona) rozlała herbatę na stół.
- Emphasize what was spilled: Herbatę rozlała na stół.
- Emphasize where: Na stół rozlała herbatę. All are grammatical; rhythm and focus decide which sounds most natural.
What’s the infinitive of rozlała, and how do I say present/future?
Infinitive: rozlać (perfective). Perfective verbs don’t have a true present; their “present” forms are future: rozleje = “will spill.” Imperfective counterpart rozlewać has a real present: rozlewa = “spills/is spilling,” and a periphrastic future: będzie rozlewać = “will be spilling.”
How do I negate the sentence correctly?
Use nie and switch the object to genitive:
- Nie rozlała herbaty na stół. = She didn’t spill tea on the table.
Why not na stołu?
Because na governs accusative (movement) or locative (location), not genitive. stołu is genitive. So you want na stół (onto) or na stole (on).