Breakdown of Szukam korepetytora, żeby nauczył mojego syna programowania.
mój
my
syn
son
żeby
so that, in order to
szukać
to look for
nauczyć
to teach
korepetytor
tutor
programowanie
programming
Questions & Answers about Szukam korepetytora, żeby nauczył mojego syna programowania.
Why do both "my son" and "programming" seem to be in the Genitive case here?
This sentence uses the double-object rule for verbs of teaching like nauczyć. The person being taught takes the Accusative case, and the subject being taught takes the Genitive case. The person is mojego syna; because syn is a masculine animate noun, its Accusative form looks exactly like the Genitive. The subject is programowania, which is the true Genitive form of the noun programowanie.
Why is "nauczył" in the past tense if the tutoring will happen in the future?
To express purpose ("so that" or "in order to"), Polish uses the conjunction żeby followed by the past tense form of the verb (matching the subject). Even though the teaching hasn't happened yet, the grammatical structure strictly requires żeby + past tense, which gives us żeby nauczył.
Why is "korepetytora" in the Genitive case instead of the Accusative?
The verb szukać (to look for) always takes the Genitive case for the object being sought. Therefore, the base noun korepetytor changes to its Genitive form, korepetytora.
Could I use "uczył" instead of "nauczył" in this sentence?
You could, but it would slightly change the expectation. Nauczył is perfective, focusing on the completed result: the parent wants the tutor to successfully impart the skill. If you used the imperfective uczył, it would just mean you want someone to spend time teaching him, without emphasizing the final successful outcome.
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