Questions & Answers about W porównaniu z zeszłym rokiem mamy więcej pracy.
Why is rok in the form zeszłym rokiem here?
The phrase w porównaniu z means in comparison with. The preposition z (with) requires the instrumental case, so the nominative zeszły rok (last year) changes to zeszłym rokiem.
Why is it więcej pracy instead of więcej pracę? Doesn't the verb mamy require the accusative case?
You are right that mamy (we have) normally takes the accusative case. However, the word więcej (more) is a quantifier, and in Polish, quantifiers force the noun that follows them into the genitive case. So praca becomes the genitive pracy.
Is there another way to say compared to in Polish?
Yes, instead of w porównaniu z followed by the instrumental case, you can also say w porównaniu do followed by the genitive case. So, you could completely correctly say w porównaniu do zeszłego roku and it would mean exactly the same thing.
What is the dictionary form of zeszłym?
The dictionary form is the adjective zeszły, which means last or previous when referring to time. You will see it often in phrases like w zeszłym tygodniu (last week) or w zeszłym miesiącu (last month).