Breakdown of W poniedziałek studentki szły w góry.
iść
to go
w
in / on (a day)
studentka
student (f)
poniedziałek
Monday
góra
mountain
Questions & Answers about W poniedziałek studentki szły w góry.
Why is the verb szły instead of szli?
The subject is studentki (female students), which is a group of only women. In the Polish plural past tense, we use the non-virile ending -ły for groups of women, children, animals, or objects. If the group included even one male student, it would become a virile group and use the ending -li (szli).
What verb does szły come from? It doesn't look like any present tense verb I know!
It comes from the verb iść (to walk/go on foot). This verb is highly irregular in the past tense. Instead of starting with id- like in the present tense, its plural past tense forms are built on the base sz-.
Does the preposition w always mean "on" when talking about days of the week?
Yes! To say "on a certain day", Polish uses w (or we for some days like Tuesday) followed by the Accusative case. Because poniedziałek is a non-living masculine noun, its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its basic dictionary form.
If w usually means "in", why does w góry translate to "to the mountains"?
The preposition w can mean "in" or "to/into" depending on the grammar case that follows it. Because the female students are moving toward a destination, we use w with the Accusative case (w góry). If they were already located there and just walking around, we would use the Locative case (w górach).
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