Breakdown of Tylko połowa mieszkańców chce zostać w tym mieście.
ten
this (m)
chcieć
to want
w
in / on (a day)
miasto
city
tylko
only
zostać
to stay
połowa
the half
mieszkaniec
resident
Questions & Answers about Tylko połowa mieszkańców chce zostać w tym mieście.
Why is the verb chce in the singular form instead of the plural chcą, since we are talking about residents?
In Polish, when the subject of a sentence is a partitive noun like połowa (half), większość (majority), or część (part), the verb agrees grammatically with that partitive noun, not the people or things it refers to. Because połowa is grammatically a singular feminine noun, the verb chce takes the third-person singular form.
What case is mieszkańców in, and why?
It is in the genitive plural. Words that express a quantity, fraction, or a part of a whole, such as połowa, require the noun that follows them to be in the genitive case. It works just like the English word 'of' in 'half of the residents.'
Why do we use the perfective verb zostać here instead of the imperfective zostawać?
Zostać focuses on the completion or the result of the action, which is the natural choice when talking about a one-time, permanent, or long-term life decision like staying in a city. Zostawać would imply a repeated action or an ongoing process, which doesn't fit the context of this sentence.
Why is the phrase w tym mieście used instead of w to miasto?
The preposition w requires the locative case when it describes a static location (answering 'where?'). Tym mieście is the locative form of to miasto. If you used the accusative case (w to miasto), it would imply motion or direction into the city, which doesn't make sense with the verb zostać.
Learn Tylko połowa mieszkańców chce zostać w tym mieście and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free