Breakdown of Kobiety podróżowały tydzień temu.
kobieta
woman
temu
ago
podróżować
to travel (make a journey)
tydzień
week
Questions & Answers about Kobiety podróżowały tydzień temu.
Why does the verb podróżowały end in -ły and not -li?
Because the subject is kobiety (women). Polish has two plural categories in the past tense: virile (for groups with at least one man) and non-virile (for groups of women, children, animals, or objects). Since a group of women is non-virile, the verb takes the -ły ending. If it were a mixed group or just men, it would be podróżowali.
I learned that verbs ending in -ować change to -uj- (like podróżują). Why isn't that happening here?
That -uj- change only happens in the present tense! The past tense is actually much simpler for these verbs. You just take the dictionary form (podróżować), drop the final -ć, and add your past tense ending (-ły).
If I wanted to say 'They traveled a week ago', which word for 'they' would I use instead of kobiety?
You would use one. In Polish, one is the non-virile word for 'they' (used for groups of women, children, and objects), which perfectly matches the -ły verb ending. You could say: One podróżowały tydzień temu. The virile 'they' is oni, which pairs with -li endings.
Does the word temu (ago) always come after the amount of time?
Yes! Just like in English, temu is placed directly after the time expression. For example, you say tydzień temu (a week ago), miesiąc temu (a month ago), or rok temu (a year ago).
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