Breakdown of Do końca spotkania zostało jeszcze jedenaście minut.
Questions & Answers about Do końca spotkania zostało jeszcze jedenaście minut.
What does do końca spotkania literally mean?
Literally, it means to the end of the meeting.
In natural English, in this sentence, you would usually translate it as until the end of the meeting or before the meeting ends.
So Polish is expressing the time limit/boundary: there are eleven minutes left until that point.
Why is it do końca, not something like na końcu?
Because do and na mean different things here.
- do końca = until the end / up to the end
- na końcu = at the end or on the end
In this sentence, we are talking about how much time remains before a point in time is reached, so do końca is the correct choice.
Compare:
- Do końca spotkania zostało 10 minut. = There are 10 minutes left until the meeting ends.
- Na końcu spotkania będzie czas na pytania. = At the end of the meeting, there will be time for questions.
Why are końca and spotkania both in the genitive case?
There are two separate reasons:
- do requires the genitive, so koniec becomes końca.
- koniec often takes another noun in the genitive to mean the end of something, so spotkanie becomes spotkania.
So:
- koniec = end
- końca = of/to the end after do
- spotkania = of the meeting
Altogether: do końca spotkania = to/until the end of the meeting.
Why is the verb zostało used here?
Because Polish very often uses zostać or pozostać to express the idea of something remaining or being left.
So zostało jedenaście minut means something like:
- eleven minutes remained
- or more naturally in English: there are eleven minutes left
This is a very normal Polish way to talk about time, money, food, work, and so on:
- Zostało mi 20 złotych. = I have 20 zlotys left.
- Zostało trochę kawy. = There is some coffee left.
Why is zostało in the past form if the sentence talks about the present?
That is a very common learner question.
In this kind of Polish sentence, zostało is the normal idiomatic form for is left / remains. It is past in form, but in meaning it describes the current result: this is how much remains now.
So although English says there are eleven minutes left, Polish naturally says zostało jeszcze jedenaście minut.
It is best to learn this as a standard Polish pattern rather than trying to match English tense word-for-word.
Why is it zostało, not zostały, if jedenaście minut is more than one?
Because number phrases with 5 and higher behave differently in Polish.
With numerals like pięć, sześć, jedenaście, dwadzieścia, the noun goes into the genitive plural, and the whole phrase often takes neuter singular verb agreement in sentences like this.
That is why you get:
- została jedna minuta
- zostały dwie minuty
- zostały trzy minuty
- zostały cztery minuty
- zostało pięć minut
- zostało jedenaście minut
So jedenaście minut triggers zostało, not zostały.
Why is it minut and not minuty?
Because after 11, Polish uses the genitive plural of the counted noun.
For minuta, the patterns are:
- 1 minuta
- 2, 3, 4 minuty
- 5+ minut
- 11 minut
- 21 minut? No — 21 minuta
- 22 minuty
- 25 minut
So jedenaście minut is exactly what you should expect.
What does jeszcze mean here?
Here jeszcze means still or yet.
So:
- Zostało jedenaście minut. = Eleven minutes are left.
- Zostało jeszcze jedenaście minut. = There are still eleven minutes left.
It adds the sense that the end has not arrived yet.
Depending on tone and context, jeszcze can sometimes also suggest as much as or a whole:
- Jeszcze jedenaście minut! = Still eleven minutes!
Is spotkania singular or plural?
It is singular.
The base form is spotkanie = meeting.
Here it appears as spotkania, which is the genitive singular.
So this sentence refers to one meeting, not several meetings.
Can the word order be changed?
Yes. Polish word order is flexible, and changing it usually changes the focus or emphasis, not the basic meaning.
For example, these are all possible:
- Do końca spotkania zostało jeszcze jedenaście minut.
- Zostało jeszcze jedenaście minut do końca spotkania.
- Jeszcze zostało jedenaście minut do końca spotkania.
The version you were given sounds natural and puts do końca spotkania first, which frames the sentence around the time limit.
Could I say pozostało instead of zostało?
Is this similar to the English structure there are eleven minutes left?
Yes, very much in meaning.
English uses there are as a kind of structural filler. Polish does not need that. Instead, it simply says that a certain amount remained/is left:
So the Polish sentence is not built word-for-word like English, but it functions in a very similar way. The main new information is the amount of time remaining: jedenaście minut.
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