Word
Oni widzieli nas, kiedy siedzieli w parku.
Meaning
They saw us when they were sitting in the park.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Oni widzieli nas, kiedy siedzieli w parku.
siedzieć
to sit
oni
they (masculine personal)
widzieć
to see
w
in / on (a day)
Questions & Answers about Oni widzieli nas, kiedy siedzieli w parku.
Why is it widzieli with an "e" instead of an "a" like in widział?
This is a vowel change that happens in the past tense for some verbs ending in -eć, like widzieć (to see). When talking about a group of men or a mixed group (masculine personal oni), the "a" from the singular form (on widział) changes back to an "e", giving us oni widzieli.
Does siedzieli follow the exact same rule?
Yes! The dictionary form is siedzieć (to sit). If one man sat, it is on siedział (with an "a"). But because our subject is oni, the vowel changes to "e", making it oni siedzieli. If it were a group of women (one), it would keep the "a" and be one siedziały.
Why do we say w parku with a "-u" at the end instead of "-e"?
The preposition w (in) requires the Locative case here. For most masculine inanimate nouns, the ending is -e, but words ending in k, g, or ch take -u instead to make them easier to pronounce. Since park ends in k, it becomes w parku.
Why did we use the pronoun oni at the beginning, but not before siedzieli?