Breakdown of Wczoraj szedłeś w złym kierunku i się zgubiłeś.
i
and
zły
bad
iść
to go
w
in / on (a day)
wczoraj
yesterday
zgubić się
to get lost
kierunek
the direction
Questions & Answers about Wczoraj szedłeś w złym kierunku i się zgubiłeś.
Why is the word for "you were walking" szedłeś? Shouldn't it look more like the infinitive iść?
Why is the phrase w złym kierunku and what case is this?
The phrase uses the Locative case. In Polish, the expression for "in a direction" is formed with the preposition w plus the Locative case. The dictionary forms are zły (bad or wrong) and kierunek (direction). In the Locative, they change to złym kierunku. Notice that the "e" in kierunek disappears when adding the case ending, which is a common pattern.
Does złym mean "bad" or "wrong" here?
The adjective zły literally means "bad" or "angry", but it is very commonly used to mean "wrong" when talking about choices, answers, or directions. So w złym kierunku is the natural way to say "in the wrong direction".
Why does się come before the verb in i się zgubiłeś?
The reflexive pronoun się prefers not to be the very last word in a sentence if it can be avoided. Because zgubiłeś is the final word here, się naturally tucks in right before it, immediately after the conjunction i (and).
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