Breakdown of Policja patroluje teren wzdłuż nowego ogrodzenia.
nowy
new
wzdłuż
along
teren
terrain
policja
police
patrolować
to patrol
ogrodzenie
the fence
Questions & Answers about Policja patroluje teren wzdłuż nowego ogrodzenia.
English says 'The police patrol' (plural), but here it is 'patroluje' (singular). Why?
In Polish, policja is a singular feminine noun (you can think of it as 'the police force'). Therefore, it requires the third-person singular verb patroluje, unlike in English where 'police' usually takes a plural verb.
I see that 'nowe ogrodzenie' changed to 'nowego ogrodzenia'. Is this because of 'wzdłuż'?
Exactly. The preposition wzdłuż (along) requires the Genitive case. Since ogrodzenie (fence) is a neuter noun, both the adjective and the noun take the neuter Genitive endings: -ego for the adjective (nowego) and -a for the noun (ogrodzenia).
Is the preposition 'wzdłuż' related to the word for 'long'?
Yes! wzdłuż is built from the same root as długi (long) and długość (length), so it literally means moving along the length of something. This helps distinguish it from its counterpart wszerz (across or widthwise), which is related to szeroki (wide).
Why doesn't the word 'teren' change its ending here?
teren is the direct object of the verb patroluje, so it is in the Accusative case. Because it is an inanimate masculine noun, its Accusative form is identical to its Nominative form, which is why it looks unchanged.
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