Breakdown of Skoro nie mają pieniędzy, czyżby zbankrutowali?
mieć
to have
nie
no / not
pieniądze
money
skoro
seeing that, since (a reason taken as given)
Questions & Answers about Skoro nie mają pieniędzy, czyżby zbankrutowali?
What is the difference between asking czyżby zbankrutowali? and just czy zbankrutowali?
Czy is a neutral way to ask a yes/no question (Did they go bankrupt?). Czyżby adds a strong sense of surprise, doubt, or sudden realization. In English, it translates closely to: Could it be that they went bankrupt? or Don't tell me they went bankrupt!
Why use the conjunction skoro instead of ponieważ (because) here?
While both can translate to since or because, skoro is used to draw a logical conclusion or inference based on an observed fact (they have no money). Ponieważ just states a neutral cause. Skoro pairs perfectly with the deduction happening in the second half of the sentence.
If the subject was I (a man), how would the czyżby part of the sentence change?
You would attach the past tense personal ending directly to the particle, making it czyżbym zbankrutował? (Could it be that I went bankrupt?). For you (singular), it would be czyżbyś zbankrutował?. In our sentence, it is third-person plural, so the particle stays as czyżby and the verb takes the standard third-person form zbankrutowali.
Just to be sure, why is the word for money in the form pieniędzy?