Word
Kiedy byłam mała, mieszkałam w Warszawie.
Meaning
When I was small, I lived in Warsaw.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Kiedy byłam mała, mieszkałam w Warszawie.
być
to be
mały
small
mieszkać
to live
w
in / on (a day)
Questions & Answers about Kiedy byłam mała, mieszkałam w Warszawie.
Why do the verbs end in "-am" (byłam, mieszkałam) instead of "-em"?
In the Polish past tense, verbs change depending on whether the speaker is male or female. The -am ending in byłam and mieszkałam tells us the speaker is a female. A male speaker would say byłem and mieszkałem.
Why is the word for small mała instead of mały?
Polish adjectives must match the gender of the person or thing they describe. Because the speaker is female, she uses the feminine form mała. A male speaker would use the masculine form mały.
Why does Warszawa change to w Warszawie?
In Polish, noun endings change depending on their role in the sentence. After the preposition w (in), we use a form called the Locative case to talk about locations. For most feminine nouns ending in "-a" like Warszawa, the ending changes to "-ie", making it w Warszawie.
Why isn't the word ja (I) used in this sentence?
In Polish, you usually drop subject words like ja (I) or ty (you) because the verb ending already tells you who is doing the action. The endings in byłam and mieszkałam already mean "I", so adding ja isn't necessary unless you want to add special emphasis.