Breakdown of Przewodniczący powołał komisję, żeby mianować prezesa.
żeby
so that, in order to
komisja
the commission
prezes
CEO
przewodniczący
chairman
powołać
to appoint
mianować
to nominate
Questions & Answers about Przewodniczący powołał komisję, żeby mianować prezesa.
Przewodniczący translates to "chairman", but it looks like an adjective. How does this word work?
It's an active adjectival participle derived from the verb przewodniczyć (to preside / to chair), so it literally means "the presiding one". Because it comes from an adjective-like participle, it declines exactly like an adjective, even though it functions as a noun here.
Both powołać and mianować can translate to "to appoint". How do they differ?
Powołać is used for forming or convening a collective body (like a committee, commission, or task force) or calling someone to a duty. Mianować is used specifically for granting a title, rank, or formal position to an individual (like a CEO, director, or military officer).
Why is mianować in the infinitive after żeby, rather than conjugated?
In Polish, you use żeby + infinitive when the subject of both clauses is the same. Grammatically, this means the chairman (the subject of the main clause) is the one who will nominate the CEO. If the committee were going to make the nomination, you would use a conjugated past-tense verb to show the subject change: żeby mianowała prezesa (so that it would nominate a CEO).
This lesson teaches the particle jako (as). If I wanted to expand this to say "to nominate him AS a CEO", how would case-matching work?
If you added a pronoun like go (him) in the accusative case, the noun following jako must match that case: mianować go jako prezesa (both accusative). However, be aware that with verbs of appointing like mianować, native speakers more commonly drop jako entirely and just use the instrumental case: mianować go prezesem.
Is the verb mianować perfective or imperfective?
Mianować is a bi-aspectual verb, which is quite rare in Polish. This means it uses the exact same form for both perfective and imperfective meanings. Context tells you which one it is; here, it refers to a single, specific goal, so it functions as a perfective verb.
Learn Przewodniczący powołał komisję, żeby mianować prezesa 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