Breakdown of Ledwie przeszli przez próg, latarka zgasła.
przez
through, across
przejść
to cross
latarka
the flashlight
ledwie
barely
Questions & Answers about Ledwie przeszli przez próg, latarka zgasła.
The English translation says "when the flashlight went out", but there is no word for "when" in the Polish sentence. Is that normal?
Yes. In Polish, the structure ledwie + [Action 1], + [Action 2] naturally implies that the second action happened immediately after the first. You don't need to add a word like kiedy or gdy (when) to connect them. The sequence of the two perfective verbs separated by a comma does all the work.
Could I use ledwo instead of ledwie in this sentence?
Absolutely. Ledwo and ledwie are interchangeable here. Ledwo is slightly more common in everyday spoken Polish, while ledwie can sound a tiny bit more literary or formal, but both are perfectly natural and mean exactly the same thing.
Why do we need the preposition przez here? Can't we just say przeszli próg?
While English says "cross the threshold" directly, the Polish verb przejść (to cross / to go through) usually requires the preposition przez + accusative case when you are physically crossing a boundary or an obstacle. You'll see this with other physical crossings too, like przejść przez ulicę (to cross the street). If you wanted to avoid the preposition, you would have to use a different verb, like przekroczyć (to step across: przekroczyli próg).
The infinitive for "went out" is zgasnąć. Why is the past tense zgasła and not "zgasnęła"?