Breakdown of Jakakolwiek by była pogoda, nasza ekspedycja pływa po oceanie.
być
to be
pływać
to swim
nasz
our
pogoda
weather
po
along, on (a surface)
ocean
ocean
jakikolwiek
any
by
would (free conditional particle: "one could", "it would be necessary")
ekspedycja
expedition (formal, scientific)
Questions & Answers about Jakakolwiek by była pogoda, nasza ekspedycja pływa po oceanie.
Why do we use the past tense verb była in the first half of the sentence when the second half uses the present tense pływa?
This is a key feature of universal concessive clauses (phrases meaning "whatever might happen"). After a -kolwiek word, Polish uses the conditional mood to express this idea. The conditional is always built using the particle by plus the past-tense form (the l-participle, here była). Even though it looks like the past tense, it expresses a hypothetical or general state: "whatever the weather might be."
Could I attach the particle by directly to the verb, as in jakakolwiek byłaby pogoda?
Yes, but writing it as a separate word right after jakakolwiek is very common and sounds highly natural. The particle by is a "clitic", meaning it likes to latch onto the first stressed word in the clause. While jakakolwiek byłaby pogoda is grammatically correct, pulling by to the second position (jakakolwiek by była...) is exactly how native speakers usually structure these "whatever/wherever" phrases.
Why does jakakolwiek end in -a here?
Jakikolwiek acts like an adjective, so it must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies. Since it modifies pogoda (a feminine noun in the Nominative case), it takes the feminine singular Nominative form jakakolwiek. If it were modifying a masculine noun like problem, it would be jakikolwiek by był problem.
Why does the sentence use pływa instead of płynie for "sails"?
Pływać is an indeterminate (multidirectional) verb of motion. It's used here because the expedition is sailing around in various directions, rather than traveling in one straight line toward a single destination. If they were on a set course heading directly to a specific port, you would use the determinate verb płynie.
What case is po oceanie and why?
It's in the Locative case. When used with verbs of motion, the preposition po takes the Locative case to mean moving "around," "all over," or "across the surface of" something. So po oceanie perfectly captures the idea of the expedition sailing randomly or extensively around the ocean.
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