Breakdown of Skazany wreszcie podniósł ręce.
ręka
hand, arm
wreszcie
finally
podnieść
to lift
skazany
convict
Questions & Answers about Skazany wreszcie podniósł ręce.
Why is skazany used here as a noun meaning "the convict"?
Skazany is literally the passive participle of the verb skazać (to convict, to sentence), so it originally means "the convicted one". Like many participles in Polish, it can be substantivized—meaning it is used as a noun—to describe a person's legal state or role. Because it derives from a participle, it declines exactly like an adjective.
Since skazany acts as a noun in this sentence, how would I say "the convicts" in the plural?
Even though it functions as a noun, it retains its adjective declension. To say "the convicts" (a group involving at least one male), you must apply the standard masculine personal (virile) plural adjective ending, making it skazani.
The English translation says "his hands", so why isn't there a possessive word like swoje before ręce?
In Polish, it is standard to leave out possessive pronouns (like swoje or jego) when referring to body parts or personal items, as long as the context makes it obvious whose body part it is. Adding swoje here wouldn't be grammatically wrong, but it would sound unnatural and overly emphatic to a native speaker.
Why use the perfective verb podniósł instead of the imperfective podnosił?
The perfective podniósł emphasizes the completion of a single, specific action: he raised his hands and the action was done. If you used the imperfective podnosił, it would change the meaning to imply he was in the process of raising them (but hadn't finished), or that he was raising them repeatedly.