Breakdown of Pewnej zimy ktoś napisał ten wpis niebieskim atramentem.
ten
this (m)
napisać
to write (perfective)
ktoś
somebody
zima
winter
niebieski
blue
pewien
a certain, one
wpis
entry
atrament
ink
Questions & Answers about Pewnej zimy ktoś napisał ten wpis niebieskim atramentem.
Why is pewnej zimy in the Genitive case here instead of using a preposition?
This is the bare Genitive of time. In Polish storytelling or narratives, the Genitive is used without a preposition to pinpoint an event to a specific, yet somewhat indefinite past time period. You will often see this with phrases translated as "one..." or "that...", like pewnej zimy (one winter), pewnej nocy (one night), or tamtego dnia (that day).
Does the word pewnej here mean "certain" in the sense of being sure about something?
Not exactly. While pewny can mean "sure" or "confident" (for example, jestem pewny means "I am sure"), in this narrative context it translates closer to "a certain" or "one". It is used to introduce a specific but unnamed time or person, just like saying "A certain winter..." in English.
Why isn't there a preposition like z (with) before niebieskim atramentem?
When you use an object as a tool to perform an action (like writing with ink), Polish uses the bare Instrumental case. If you added the preposition z, it would mean "together with" or "accompanied by"—which would make it sound like someone and the blue ink sat down to co-author the entry together!
Is ten wpis (this entry) in the Nominative case here?
It is actually in the Accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb napisał (wrote). However, because wpis is a masculine inanimate noun, its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its Nominative form.
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