Breakdown of Ten niedźwiedź przespał całą zimę w jaskini.
ten
this (m)
w
in / on (a day)
cały
whole, entire
zima
winter
niedźwiedź
bear
jaskinia
cave
przespać
to sleep through
Questions & Answers about Ten niedźwiedź przespał całą zimę w jaskini.
How does the prefix prze- change the meaning of spać (to sleep) in this sentence?
Adding the prefix prze- to a continuous action often highlights that the action was performed continuously from the beginning to the end of a specific time period. Przespał is a perfective verb meaning the bear successfully completed the action of sleeping through that entire time.
Why is całą zimę in the Accusative case?
In Polish, expressions of duration (answering 'for how long?') take the Accusative case. This is mandatory when paired with a prze- prefixed verb of duration, which requires a direct Accusative time expression to specify the exact period that was 'slept through'.
Usually we use the preposition przez for duration. Why isn't it przespał przez całą zimę?
When you use a verb with the duration prefix prze-, you almost always drop the preposition przez (through/for). The prefix on the verb already communicates the idea of doing something 'throughout' the time period, so adding przez before the noun would be redundant.
Why does the word for cave (jaskinia) end in -i here?
The preposition w (in) requires the Locative case when describing a static location. Feminine nouns ending in -nia, like jaskinia, take the ending -ni in the Locative case, which results in w jaskini.
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