Breakdown of Wprawdzie ta nieruchomość jest odnowiona, ale miałem kupić tani dom.
być
to be
dom
house
ten
this (m)
tani
cheap
ale
but
kupić
to buy (perfective)
mieć
to be supposed to
wprawdzie
admittedly
nieruchomość
property (real estate)
odnowiony
renovated
Questions & Answers about Wprawdzie ta nieruchomość jest odnowiona, ale miałem kupić tani dom.
How rigid is the wprawdzie ..., ale ... structure in this sentence? Can I just say wprawdzie and leave out ale?
In Polish, wprawdzie (admittedly) strongly anticipates a contrast. While you could technically leave out ale if the contrast is heavily implied, it sounds incomplete. The pair wprawdzie ..., ale ... works together exactly like "true, ..., but ..." in English.
Does wprawdzie always have to be the first word in the clause?
No, its placement is quite flexible! You could also say Ta nieruchomość wprawdzie jest odnowiona, ale... or Ta nieruchomość jest wprawdzie odnowiona, ale... Putting it at the very beginning of the sentence just places slightly more emphasis on the concession.
Why does miałem kupić mean "I was supposed to buy"? Doesn't miałem just mean "I had"?
When you use the verb mieć (to have) followed by an infinitive like kupić, it expresses obligation, intention, or expectation. In the past tense, miałem kupić is the standard Polish way to say "I was supposed to buy" or "I meant to buy," rather than expressing literal possession.
I noticed it is ta nieruchomość and odnowiona. Why is nieruchomość feminine if it ends in a consonant?
Almost all Polish nouns ending in -ość are feminine. Even though nieruchomość (real estate or property) refers to a physical thing, it is built using that same suffix (from nieruchomy, meaning unmoving). Therefore, it requires the feminine pronoun ta and the feminine participle odnowiona.
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