Breakdown of Drapieżnik jest niewidoczny, tak jakby czekał na swoją zdobycz.
być
to be
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
czekać
to wait
swój
one's own
drapieżnik
predator
tak
so (to such a degree)
jakby
as if, as though (jakby + past-tense form; jakbyś, jakbym)
niewidoczny
invisible
zdobycz
prey
Questions & Answers about Drapieżnik jest niewidoczny, tak jakby czekał na swoją zdobycz.
The predator is invisible right now, so why does the sentence use the past tense czekał instead of the present tense czeka?
This is how Polish forms a comparative clause of unreality. After phrases like tak jakby or jakby (meaning 'as if' or 'as though'), Polish uses the past tense form to describe a hypothetical situation happening in the present. It translates nicely to the English subjunctive 'as if it were waiting.'
What is the difference between using tak jakby and just jakby in this sentence?
They are highly interchangeable and both mean 'as if' or 'as though.' Adding tak simply adds a slight bit of emphasis to the comparison, making it sound a bit more descriptive. You could drop the tak here and the sentence would mean exactly the same thing.
Why does the sentence use swoją instead of jego for 'its'?
Because the predator (the subject of the clause) is waiting for its own prey. Whenever the possessor is the subject of the clause, Polish strongly prefers the reflexive possessive pronoun swój, which takes the feminine accusative form swoją here. If you used jego, it would imply the predator is waiting for some other animal's prey!
I know czekać na (to wait for) requires the accusative case. Why doesn't the ending of zdobycz change?
Zdobycz is a feminine noun that ends in a soft consonant. For feminine nouns that end in a consonant rather than a vowel, the accusative form is identical to the nominative form, so it stays zdobycz. You can easily tell it is feminine and in the accusative case because of the matching pronoun swoją right before it.
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