Word
Był wtedy chory i bardzo smutny.
Meaning
He was sick and very sad back then.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Był wtedy chory i bardzo smutny.
Where is the word for 'he' in this sentence?
The pronoun on (he) is dropped because the verb był already specifically means 'he was'. In Polish, you can usually leave out pronouns when the verb makes it clear who you are talking about.
If we were talking about a woman, how would this sentence change?
In the past tense, Polish verbs change based on gender. For a woman, 'she was' becomes była. You also have to change the adjectives to their feminine forms, which usually end in -a. The sentence would be: Była wtedy chora i bardzo smutna.
Why are chory and smutny in the basic Nominative case? Do we not use the Instrumental case after the verb 'to be'?
That is a very common mix-up! You use the Instrumental case after the verb być (to be) when you are identifying someone with a noun (for example, 'He is a doctor'). But when you are only describing them with adjectives (like 'sick' or 'sad' here), they stay in the basic Nominative case.
Where should I place time words like wtedy in a sentence?
Polish word order is quite flexible, but putting time words like wtedy (then or back then) right after the verb is a very natural and common pattern. You could also put it at the end or beginning of the sentence depending on what you want to emphasize.