Breakdown of Proszę dokładnie wyjaśnić zasady.
proszę
please
zasada
the rule
wyjaśnić
to explain
dokładnie
precisely
Questions & Answers about Proszę dokładnie wyjaśnić zasady.
Is "proszę" here an imperative? Who is the subject?
- Proszę is the 1st person singular present of prosić (I ask/request). In this construction it functions like English please.
- There is no explicit subject for wyjaśnić; pragmatically it addresses the listener(s). So it’s a polite, impersonal request meaning “Please (would you) explain…,” not a grammatical imperative form of the verb “explain.”
Why is the verb in the infinitive? Could I say an imperative like wyjaśnij?
- Proszę + infinitive (here: proszę wyjaśnić) is a common polite/request formula, frequent in instructions, announcements, classrooms, offices.
- You can use an imperative to a known “you”:
- Singular informal: Proszę, wyjaśnij zasady.
- Plural informal: Proszę, wyjaśnijcie zasady.
- The infinitive version is more neutral/formal and less direct than the bare imperative.
What aspect is wyjaśnić, and how would wyjaśniać change the meaning?
- Wyjaśnić is perfective: it asks for a single, completed explanation.
- Wyjaśniać is imperfective: Proszę wyjaśniać zasady would suggest ongoing/repeated explaining (e.g., “please keep explaining the rules”), which is a different request and less likely here.
What case and number is zasady, and why not ?