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Questions & Answers about Kiedy skończysz pracę?
Why does skończysz mean "will you finish" (future) when it looks like a present-tense word?
This is because skończyć is a perfective verb. In Polish, perfective verbs focus on the completion of an action. Because you cannot complete an action in the ongoing present, putting present-tense endings on a perfective verb automatically makes it talk about the future!
How is skończysz related to the verb kończyć?
Kończyć (to finish) is the imperfective version of the verb, focusing on the ongoing process. Adding the prefix s- creates skończyć, the perfective version. They use the exact same endings, but kończysz means "you are finishing" (present) and skończysz means "you will finish" (future).
Why is the word for work pracę here instead of praca?
The dictionary form is praca. However, because "work" is the direct object of the sentence (it is the thing being finished), it needs to be in the accusative case. For feminine nouns that end in -a, you simply change the -a to -ę.
Where is the word for "you" (ty) in this sentence?
Polish usually drops subject pronouns like ja (I) and ty (you) because the verb ending already tells us who is doing the action. The -sz ending on skończysz tells us that "you" are doing the finishing. You only need to add ty if you want to add special emphasis.