Breakdown of My bardzo się naśmialiśmy wczoraj wieczorem.
bardzo
very
my
we
wieczorem
in the evening
wczoraj
yesterday
naśmiać się
to laugh a lot
Questions & Answers about My bardzo się naśmialiśmy wczoraj wieczorem.
What exactly does the na- prefix add to the verb here?
The base verb is śmiać się (to laugh). By using the na- ... się pattern to form naśmiać się, the verb takes on the meaning of doing the action to the point of satisfaction or excess. Instead of just 'we laughed', it means 'we laughed a lot', 'we had a good laugh', or 'we laughed our fill'.
Why is się placed before the verb rather than after naśmialiśmy?
The reflexive pronoun się cannot be the first word in a sentence, and it generally avoids being the very last word if possible. It naturally gravitates toward the second position in a clause. Tucking it between bardzo and naśmialiśmy flows much better to a Polish ear than putting it after the verb.
Since naśmialiśmy already contains the 'we' ending, why is the pronoun My used at the start?
You are right that the -śmy suffix completely identifies the subject as 'we', which is why Polish usually drops subject pronouns. Including My here is done for emphasis, making the sentence sound a bit like 'As for us, we laughed a lot'.
Could you use naśmiałyśmy in this sentence instead?
Yes, but only if the group of people laughing consisted entirely of females. The form naśmialiśmy used here is masculine personal, which indicates that the 'we' group includes at least one man. If it were a group of only women, it would be My bardzo się naśmiałyśmy.
Why does wieczorem take an instrumental ending here?
To express doing something 'in the morning', 'in the evening', or 'at night', Polish uses the instrumental case of the noun. Therefore, the base noun wieczór (evening) becomes wieczorem. The word wczoraj (yesterday) is simply an adverb, so its form does not change.
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