Jeden samolot startuje, podczas gdy drugi kołuje.
One plane is taking off while the other is taxiing.
Breakdown of Jeden samolot startuje, podczas gdy drugi kołuje.
jeden
one
drugi
second / the other (in 'one another')
samolot
airplane
podczas gdy
while / whereas (temporal or contrast)
startować
to take off (a plane)
kołować
to taxi
Questions & Answers about Jeden samolot startuje, podczas gdy drugi kołuje.
Why do we use podczas gdy here instead of just podczas?
Podczas is a preposition meaning "during" and must be followed by a noun, usually in the genitive case. Because we are connecting two full clauses with their own verbs (startuje and kołuje), we must use the conjunction phrase podczas gdy, which translates to "while."
Why does the sentence use drugi (second) to mean "the other"?
In Polish, the standard way to express "one... the other..." is using the pair jeden... drugi.... You wouldn't use inny (other/different) here, because inny implies a fundamentally different type of plane, whereas drugi simply identifies the second plane in this specific scenario.
Does startuje mean the plane is just "starting" its engine?
No, for aircraft, the verb startować specifically means "to take off." While it can mean "to start" in the context of a race or a launch, Polish doesn't use it for starting a regular activity (which would be zaczynać) or starting a car or engine (which would be uruchamiać or odpalać).
Where does the aviation term kołuje come from?
Kołuje comes from the verb kołować, which is built from the noun koło (wheel or circle). In aviation, it is the exact equivalent of the English "to taxi" (meaning to move an aircraft on the ground on its wheels).
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