Breakdown of Czy ktokolwiek widział, jak sprawca zbrodni zebrał te informacje?
czy
[question particle]
ten
this (m)
jak
how
widzieć
to see
informacja
information
ktokolwiek
whoever
sprawca
perpetrator
zbrodnia
crime
zebrać
to collect
Questions & Answers about Czy ktokolwiek widział, jak sprawca zbrodni zebrał te informacje?
Since this lesson is about the anterior participle, could we rewrite this sentence to use zebrawszy?
No, we cannot. A strict rule for using an anterior participle like zebrawszy (having collected) is that both the main action and the participle action must be performed by the exact same subject. Here, the main subject is ktokolwiek (anyone) and the subject of collecting is sprawca (the perpetrator). Because the subjects are different, we have to use a standard clause with jak or że.
Why is it te informacje (plural) when the English translation says 'this information' (singular)?
In English, 'information' is an uncountable noun and always singular. In Polish, informacja is a countable noun. While you can say tę informację for a single specific fact, it is much more natural and common in Polish to use the plural te informacje when referring to a collection of data or general intelligence.
Why does zbrodnia change to zbrodni here?
It is in the genitive case because it modifies sprawca (the perpetrator). The genitive case is used to show association, equivalent to 'of' in English, making sprawca zbrodni literally 'the perpetrator of the crime'. For feminine nouns ending in -nia, the genitive singular ending is -ni.
The sentence uses jak. Would it mean the same thing if we used że?
Not exactly. Using jak here focuses on witnessing the act itself, meaning 'Did anyone see him in the process of collecting it?'. If you used że instead, it would mean 'Did anyone see that he collected it?', which focuses merely on the established fact that the action was completed, rather than witnessing the action taking place.
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