Breakdown of On zawsze szuka wymówek, zamiast przestać zwlekać.
on
he / it (m)
zawsze
always
przestać
to stop
szukać
to look for
zamiast
instead of
wymówka
excuse
zwlekać
to delay
Questions & Answers about On zawsze szuka wymówek, zamiast przestać zwlekać.
Why is "instead of stopping" translated with the infinitive przestać rather than a noun or gerund?
In English, "instead of" is usually followed by an -ing verb. In Polish, when the subject of both actions is the same, zamiast is followed directly by an infinitive clause. So you say zamiast przestać (literally: instead to stop).
We have two infinitives at the end: przestać zwlekać. Why is zwlekać strictly imperfective here?
The verb przestać means "to stop" or "to cease". Verbs that express starting, finishing, or continuing an action must take an imperfective infinitive as their object because they refer to an ongoing process. You can only stop a continuous action, hence the imperfective zwlekać (to delay or procrastinate).
Why is the word for excuses (wymówek) in the genitive case instead of the accusative direct object case?
The verb szukać (to look for or seek) is one of the classic Polish verbs that always require their object to be in the genitive case, even in positive sentences. Since he is looking for multiple excuses, the nominative singular wymówka becomes the genitive plural wymówek.
Is the comma before zamiast grammatically required here?
Yes. In Polish punctuation, you must place a comma before zamiast when it introduces a contrasting clause, and this strict rule applies even to infinitive clauses like zamiast przestać zwlekać.
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