Breakdown of Koneser mógł pójść na degustację, aczkolwiek był zajęty.
być
to be
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
móc
to be able to
zajęty
busy
pójść
to go (on foot)
degustacja
tasting
aczkolwiek
although / albeit (formal)
koneser
connoisseur
Questions & Answers about Koneser mógł pójść na degustację, aczkolwiek był zajęty.
What is the difference between aczkolwiek and more common words like chociaż or mimo że?
Aczkolwiek means 'although' or 'albeit', but it is much more formal and literary than chociaż or mimo że. You will mostly encounter it in written texts, formal speeches, or when the speaker wants to elevate their register (which fits perfectly when talking about a connoisseur).
The English translation says 'could have gone', but mógł is just the past tense. Shouldn't it be mógłby?
While mógłby explicitly forms the conditional ('would be able to'), Polish very often uses the simple past tense mógł plus a perfective infinitive like pójść to express 'could have [done something]' in the past. The context alone shows that he didn't actually go.
Why do we use na instead of do for going to the tasting (na degustację)?
In Polish, you go do (into) physical buildings or enclosed spaces, but you go na (to/onto) events, meetings, or open spaces. Since a tasting (degustacja) is an event rather than a location, it requires na plus the accusative case.
Why is zajęty in the nominative case here rather than the instrumental case? I thought the verb być (to be) triggers the instrumental.
The verb być only triggers the instrumental case when it is followed by a noun or a noun phrase (e.g., był zajętym człowiekiem - he was a busy man). When it is followed by a standalone adjective describing the subject, like zajęty (busy), the adjective remains in the nominative case.
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