Breakdown of Przez nieuwagę kierowcy wszyscy stracili czas.
wszyscy
everyone / all (the)
kierowca
driver
czas
time
stracić
to lose (a job, money, time — not misplace, which is zgubić) (perfective of tracić)
przez
because of
nieuwaga
inattention
Questions & Answers about Przez nieuwagę kierowcy wszyscy stracili czas.
Why use przez to say 'because of' here instead of a phrase like z powodu?
While z powodu is a neutral way to say 'due to', using przez + Accusative specifically points out a negative cause or assigns blame. It translates closer to 'through the fault of'.
Which word is taking the Accusative case triggered by przez?
The noun nieuwagę. Its dictionary form is nieuwaga (inattention), and it takes the -ę ending in the Accusative singular. The following word, kierowcy, is in the Genitive case because it means 'of the driver'.
Kierowca is a masculine noun. Why does it take the ending -y in kierowcy, which looks feminine?
Even though kierowca is a masculine noun, its dictionary form ends in -a. Masculine nouns ending in -a decline just like feminine nouns in the singular. So, in the Genitive case ('of the driver'), it takes the -y ending, exactly like kobieta becomes kobiety.
Why is the verb stracili rather than straciły?
It has to agree with wszyscy (everyone). Wszyscy is the masculine personal (virile) form, used for groups containing at least one male. This requires the masculine personal past tense ending -li on the verb.
Why use the perfective verb stracili instead of the imperfective tracili?
Stracili focuses on the completed result: the time is gone. If you used tracili, it would emphasize the ongoing process, meaning 'everyone was losing time' rather than the fact that the time was ultimately lost.
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