Breakdown of Przypuszczam, że dinozaury wyginęły przez ten meteoryt.
ten
this (m)
że
that
przypuszczać
to suppose
dinozaur
dinosaur
Questions & Answers about Przypuszczam, że dinozaury wyginęły przez ten meteoryt.
Does przypuszczam always take że and a normal indicative verb, or can it use żeby like wątpić?
Because przypuszczać (to suppose/assume) expresses a leaning toward a belief rather than a strong doubt, it takes że followed by the regular indicative tense (here, wyginęły). Verbs of strong doubt, like wątpić (to doubt), are the ones that shift the subordinate clause to use żeby + past tense.
Dinozaur is masculine animate. Why does the sentence use the non-masculine plural verb wyginęły instead of wyginęli?
In the plural, the Polish gender system reorganizes into 'masculine personal' (groups with at least one male human) and 'non-masculine personal' (everything else). Since dinosaurs are animals, they fall into the non-masculine personal category, requiring the -ły verb ending instead of -li.
How does wyginęły differ from zginęły?
Both are perfective verbs built from ginąć (to perish). The prefix z- just makes it a completed action (zginęły = they perished/were killed). The prefix wy- adds the sense of 'completely' or 'wiped out', so wyginęły specifically means 'they went extinct'.
Why use przez ten meteoryt instead of z powodu tego meteorytu?