Breakdown of To chirurg, który uratował moją żonę.
to
this
mój
my
żona
the wife
który
which, who (relative)
uratować
to save, to rescue (perfective of ratować)
chirurg
surgeon
Questions & Answers about To chirurg, który uratował moją żonę.
Why do we use the Nominative case (chirurg) here instead of the Instrumental case often used for professions?
When we use the pronoun to (meaning 'this is' or 'it is') to identify someone or something, the noun that follows stays in the Nominative case. The Instrumental case is required when you use a personal pronoun with the verb być, for example: On jest chirurgiem (He is a surgeon).
Why do we use który here instead of kto?
Even though we are talking about a person ('who'), Polish uses który to introduce a relative clause that points back to a specific noun right before it (here, chirurg). The word kto is used for unknown or general people, such as in the phrase ten, kto (he who).
How would I use the grammar from this lesson to say 'If it weren't for this surgeon' based on this sentence?
You would use gdyby nie followed directly by the Nominative case. So, 'If it weren't for this surgeon' translates to Gdyby nie ten chirurg. The fact that this structure takes the Nominative case makes it very straightforward compared to other prepositional phrases!
Could we use the imperfective verb ratował instead of uratował here?
Using ratował would mean 'was saving' or 'tried to save', focusing on the ongoing process or an incomplete attempt. Because we want to emphasize the successful completion of the action (he actually saved her), we must use the perfective verb uratował.
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