Questions & Answers about Tydzień temu zakochałam się w tym mieście.
What does tydzień temu literally mean, and why does it translate as a week ago?
Tydzień means week.
Temu here means ago.
So tydzień temu is literally a week ago (or one week ago), not to this week. The word temu is a special adverb-like word used after expressions of time to mean ago, for example:
- rok temu – a year ago
- dwa dni temu – two days ago
- chwilę temu – a moment ago
The structure is always [time expression] + temu.
Why is there no word for I in the sentence? How do we know it means I fell in love?
Polish usually drops subject pronouns (like I, you, he, she) because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.
The form zakochałam clearly marks 1st person singular past, feminine. Because of that, a separate ja (I) is normally unnecessary.
You could say Ja tydzień temu zakochałam się w tym mieście, but ja is only used for emphasis, for example: Ja zakochałam się w tym mieście, nie on – I fell in love with this city, not him.
Why is it zakochałam and not zakochałem? What does the -łam ending mean?