Breakdown of Nie wiadomo, kto znalazł tę poszlakę, którą mamy.
mieć
to have
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
kto
who
Questions & Answers about Nie wiadomo, kto znalazł tę poszlakę, którą mamy.
How does "nie wiadomo" work with the rest of the sentence here?
The phrase "nie wiadomo" acts as an impersonal predicate meaning "it is unknown" or "one doesn't know." To state exactly what is unknown, you follow it with an indirect question introduced by a Wh- word, in this case "kto" (who). Notice that Polish grammar requires a comma before "kto" to separate the main clause from the indirect question.
If we don't know who found the clue, why is the verb "znalazł" in the masculine singular form?
In Polish, the question word "kto" (who) grammatically acts as a singular masculine noun. Even if the person who actually found the clue turns out to be a woman or a group of people, the verb agreeing with "kto" must always take the 3rd-person masculine singular form in the past tense, which is "znalazł".
Why is the word for "this" spelled "tę" in "tę poszlakę" instead of "tą"?
The phrase is the direct object of "znalazł", so it must be in the accusative case. "Poszlaka" (a clue or piece of circumstantial evidence) is a feminine noun, and the strictly correct accusative form of the pronoun "ta" (this) is "tę". While you will very often hear native speakers say "tą poszlakę" in casual, everyday speech, "tę poszlakę" is the correct form for standard and written Polish.
Why is the relative pronoun "którą" also in the accusative case?
A relative pronoun takes its gender and number from the noun it refers to (the feminine singular "poszlakę"), but its case depends entirely on its grammatical role in its own clause. In the clause "którą mamy" (which we have), the pronoun acts as the direct object of the verb "mamy" (we have). Since "mieć" (to have) requires the accusative case, we must use "którą".