Breakdown of Jakakolwiek by była ta kamera, nie uda nam się nagrać dna.
być
to be
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
my
we
udać się
to succeed, to work out (udało się)
jakikolwiek
any
nagrać
to record
by
would (free conditional particle: można by, trzeba by)
dno
bottom
kamera
camera
Questions & Answers about Jakakolwiek by była ta kamera, nie uda nam się nagrać dna.
Why do we use the past tense była here if we are talking about a future attempt to record the bottom?
This is part of the specific grammar for universal concessive clauses ('no matter what' or 'however'). To say 'whatever it might be like', Polish uses an adjective or pronoun ending in -kolwiek plus the conditional particle by and the past-tense form of the verb (here, była). Even though the situation applies to the present or future, this grammatical structure always requires the past-tense form.
Why is it jakakolwiek and not cokolwiek?
The word cokolwiek means 'whatever' as a standalone noun. However, here we are describing a specific noun (ta kamera), so we need the adjective form jaki ('what kind of'). Because kamera is a feminine noun, we use the feminine form jaka, and attach -kolwiek to make jakakolwiek.
I remember the verb udać się from earlier lessons. Why does it take nam here?
The verb udać się (to succeed) is used impersonally in Polish. Instead of saying 'we won't succeed', the Polish structure translates literally to 'it won't succeed to us'. The person who experiences the success or failure is always in the dative case, which is why we use nam ('to us').
Why is the word for bottom (dno) in the genitive case (dna) instead of the accusative?
This is the Genitive of Negation at work. Normally, the verb nagrać (to record) takes a direct object in the accusative case. However, because the main verb in the clause is negated (nie uda nam się), that negation trickles down to the infinitive's object, forcing dno to change into the genitive form dna.
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