Learn Polish: Ten mężczyzna szedł ze mną powoli przez most. - The man was walking slowly across the bridge with me.

Ten mężczyzna szedł ze mną powoli przez most.

The man was walking slowly across the bridge with me.

Breakdown of Ten mężczyzna szedł ze mną powoli przez most.

Questions & Answers about Ten mężczyzna szedł ze mną powoli przez most.

Why does the verb szedł look completely different from its dictionary form iść?

The verb iść (to walk/go on foot) is highly irregular in the past tense. For a single masculine subject like mężczyzna, the past tense form is szedł. If the subject were feminine, it would be szła. You just have to memorize these special past tense forms!

Why is the word for 'with' spelled ze instead of just z in ze mną?

The preposition z (with) changes to ze to make it easier to pronounce when the next word starts with certain tricky consonant combinations. Since mną (the instrumental form of ja - me) starts with the cluster 'mn-', saying z mną would be very difficult, so Polish adds an 'e'.

The word mężczyzna ends in '-a'. Why do we use the masculine word ten and the masculine verb szedł?

Even though most Polish nouns ending in '-a' are feminine, mężczyzna (man) refers to a biological male, so it is treated as grammatically masculine. All adjectives, pointing words like ten (this/the), and past tense verbs like szedł must be in their masculine forms to match it.

What grammatical case is being used in the phrase przez most (across the bridge)?