Kiedy masz egzamin, trzeba się uczyć cały tydzień.
When you have an exam, you have to study all week.
Breakdown of Kiedy masz egzamin, trzeba się uczyć cały tydzień.
mieć
to have
uczyć się
to learn
tydzień
week
kiedy
when
cały
whole, entire
trzeba
one must, it is necessary (+ infinitive)
egzamin
exam
Questions & Answers about Kiedy masz egzamin, trzeba się uczyć cały tydzień.
Why is cały tydzień used here without a preposition?
This is the bare Accusative of continuous extent. When you want to express how long an action lasts, you can put the time phrase directly into the Accusative case without needing a preposition.
Could I use the preposition przez here and say przez cały tydzień?
Yes, you can! Przez cały tydzień and cały tydzień mean exactly the same thing. Dropping przez is very common in everyday speech when talking about the continuous duration of an action.
Why do we use the imperfective verb uczyć się instead of the perfective nauczyć się?
The phrase cały tydzień emphasizes the ongoing process and duration of studying. Perfective verbs like nauczyć się focus on the final completion or result of an action, so they do not pair well with continuous time expressions like this.
Why does the sentence use the specific second person masz in the first half, but the impersonal trzeba in the second half?
Just like in English, Polish often uses the second-person form to mean a general "you" or "anyone." Mixing this with an impersonal verb like trzeba (it is necessary / one must) is very natural and idiomatic in colloquial Polish when stating general facts or advice.
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