Breakdown of Władza powinna słuchać obywateli.
słuchać
to listen
powinien
should, ought to
obywatel
the citizen
władza
power, authority (władze: the authorities)
Questions & Answers about Władza powinna słuchać obywateli.
Why is władza singular here when the English translation says "the authorities"?
In Polish, władza is a singular feminine noun that translates literally to "power" or "authority". It is commonly used collectively to refer to the government or "the authorities" as a whole. Because it is grammatically singular, the verb must match, which is why the singular powinna is used.
Why does powinna end in an "-a"?
The word for "should" in Polish behaves like an adjective and must agree with the gender of the subject. Because the subject władza is a feminine noun, it requires the feminine form powinna. If the subject were masculine, you would use powinien.
Wait, doesn't słuchać require the genitive case? Is obywateli genitive or accusative here?
It is genitive! For plural masculine personal nouns like obywatel (citizen), the plural genitive and plural accusative forms are completely identical (obywateli). Even though it looks just like the accusative, it is grammatically genitive here because the verb słuchać (to listen to) always requires its object to be in the genitive case.
Why use the imperfective verb słuchać instead of the perfective posłuchać?
Using the imperfective słuchać shows that listening to citizens is expected to be a continuous, general rule or an ongoing habit. If you used the perfective posłuchać, it would imply that the authorities should listen to them to solve one specific, isolated problem.
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