Questions & Answers about Wczoraj dostałem aparat od ortodonty.
Why is aparat singular here when the English translation says braces in the plural?
In Polish, dental braces are referred to in the singular as aparat (or fully as aparat ortodontyczny). While English uses the plural, Polish treats it as a single apparatus. Context makes it clear you mean braces here, though aparat is also the standard word for a camera.
Why does the word for orthodontist end in -y (ortodonty) here?
The base dictionary form is ortodonta. Even though it refers to a male professional and is grammatically masculine, it ends in -a, which means it follows feminine declension patterns. The preposition od requires the Genitive case, which changes the -a to -y, giving us od ortodonty.
Why use the perfective verb dostałem instead of the imperfective dostawałem?
The word wczoraj (yesterday) combined with the act of receiving braces points to a single, completed event. You use the perfective dostałem for a finished action. Dostawałem would imply an ongoing or repeated process, which rarely makes sense for getting a set of braces.
How could I use this sentence with our current lesson's phrase, tym bardziej, że?