Breakdown of Zarówno przeciętny respondent, jak i większość badaczy musi poczekać.
i
and
musieć
to have to
większość
majority
zarówno
both
jak
as (in comparisons)
poczekać
to wait a while (perfective of czekać)
badacz
researcher
respondent
respondent
przeciętny
average
Questions & Answers about Zarówno przeciętny respondent, jak i większość badaczy musi poczekać.
Why is the verb musi in the singular when the sentence has two subjects?
When subjects are joined by zarówno... jak i... (both... and...), standard Polish grammar allows the verb to agree with the subject closest to it. Here, the closest subject is większość, which is grammatically singular, so the verb takes the 3rd person singular form musi.
Even if we only look at większość badaczy, shouldn't the verb be plural since it refers to multiple researchers?
No. In Polish, partitive words like większość (majority), część (part), and połowa (half) act as singular subjects. Even when they are followed by a plural noun like badaczy, the verb must agree with the singular partitive word. This is why we use the singular musi instead of the plural muszą.
Why is the word badaczy in the genitive case here?
Partitive words like większość express a quantity of a larger group. Because they act similarly to quantifiers, they require the noun that follows them to take the genitive case. Here, badaczy is the genitive plural form of badacz (researcher).
How exactly does the structure zarówno... jak i... work in this sentence?
This structure translates to both... and... or as well as. It is used to emphasize that a statement applies equally to two distinct parties. The first subject (przeciętny respondent) immediately follows zarówno, and the second subject (większość badaczy) follows jak i.
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