Breakdown of Powinienem był to przewidzieć i być bardziej rozsądny.
to
this
być
to be
i
and
powinien
should, ought to
bardziej
more (to a greater degree)
przewidzieć
to foresee
rozsądny
reasonable (rational, sensible)
Questions & Answers about Powinienem był to przewidzieć i być bardziej rozsądny.
Why do we add był after powinienem?
By itself, powinienem just means "I should" (referring to the present or future). To express an unfulfilled obligation in the past ("I should have"), you add the past tense form of być that matches your gender. Since powinienem is masculine, we use był. A female speaker would say powinnam była.
Why is rozsądny in the nominative case here? Doesn't the verb być usually take the instrumental case?
You are right that być takes the instrumental case for nouns (like być studentem). However, when using an adjective to describe the subject, especially after modal constructions (like powinienem, chcę, or muszę) followed by być, the adjective stays in the nominative case. Here, rozsądny agrees with the masculine nominative subject "I".
Why do we use the perfective przewidzieć alongside the imperfective być?
Przewidzieć (to foresee) is perfective because it refers to a specific, one-time action that the speaker failed to accomplish in the past. On the other hand, być (to be) is always imperfective. In this sentence, it describes a general state or attitude ("being more reasonable") rather than a single discrete event.
Could I place to after the verb, like przewidzieć to?
You could, but it sounds less natural. In Polish, short pronouns like to naturally gravitate away from the very end of a phrase. Placing it before the infinitive (to przewidzieć) flows much better and represents the standard word order you will hear from native speakers.
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