Breakdown of Im więcej te chłopy piły, tym gorzej pracowały.
ten
this (m)
pracować
to work
pić
to drink
gorzej
worse (adverb)
więcej
more
im
the (more - first part)
tym
the (more - second part)
chłop
guy
Questions & Answers about Im więcej te chłopy piły, tym gorzej pracowały.
Why is the sentence using te chłopy instead of ci chłopi?
This is the depreciative plural, which is the main focus of this lesson. By using the non-virile demonstrative te and the non-virile noun ending -y for a group of men, the speaker expresses frustration, contempt, or a lack of respect. The standard, respectful virile (masculine personal) form would be ci chłopi.
Why do the verbs piły and pracowały end in -ły instead of -li if they refer to men?
When you use a depreciative noun phrase like te chłopy, the rest of the sentence must agree with its non-virile grammar. Since the subject is treated grammatically as non-virile, the past tense verbs must take the non-virile -ły ending rather than the standard virile -li endings (pili, pracowali).
How does the 'The more..., the worse...' structure work grammatically in this sentence?
Polish expresses 'the [more]..., the [more]...' using the correlative structure im + [comparative word], tym + [comparative word]. In this sentence, im is paired with the comparative adverb więcej (more), and tym is paired with the comparative adverb gorzej (worse).
Does the word chłopy always refer to 'peasants' or 'farmers'?
Not in modern colloquial Polish. While chłop historically means 'peasant', today it is very commonly used as a rough, informal word for 'guy' or 'man'. Paired with the depreciative grammar here, it translates best to 'these guys' or 'these blokes' delivered with an exasperated tone.
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