Breakdown of Zrobiłam taką zupę, jaką robiła moja babcia.
zupa
soup
robić
to make, to do
mój
my
babcia
the grandmother
zrobić
to do / to make (someone something)
taki
such, this kind of
jaki
what kind of, what ... like (asks for an adjective)
Questions & Answers about Zrobiłam taką zupę, jaką robiła moja babcia.
Why do we use zrobiłam at the beginning, but robiła later on? Both mean to make.
This is a great example of perfective vs. imperfective verbs. Zrobiłam is perfective because it describes a single, completed action in the past: you made this specific soup. Robiła is imperfective because it describes a repeated, habitual action in the past: the soup your grandmother used to make regularly over a period of time.
Could I just say zupę, którą robiła instead of using taką zupę, jaką?
You could say zupę, którą robiła, which simply means "the soup which she made." However, using the taką... jaką... (such a... as...) pairing changes the meaning slightly. It emphasizes the kind, taste, or quality of the soup. You are saying "I made the same kind of soup that my grandmother used to make," rather than referring to the exact physical bowl of soup.
Why do the words taką, zupę, and jaką all have similar endings?
They are all in the accusative case. In the first part of the sentence, zupę is the direct object of zrobiłam. The word taką describes the soup, so it must match in case, gender (feminine), and number (singular). In the second part, jaką refers back to the soup and is the direct object of the verb robiła, so it also needs to take the feminine accusative ending.
Why is moja babcia at the very end of the sentence? Could I say "...jaką moja babcia robiła"?
Yes, you can absolutely say ...jaką moja babcia robiła. However, putting moja babcia at the end is very natural in Polish. Polish word order is flexible, and the most important or newest piece of information often goes at the end of the sentence to give it more emphasis. Here, the emphasis is on who used to make the soup.
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