Breakdown of Szedłem po tym chodniku, żeby nie iść po schodach.
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
iść
to go
żeby
so that, in order to
po
along, on (a surface)
chodnik
the pavement
schody
the stairs
Questions & Answers about Szedłem po tym chodniku, żeby nie iść po schodach.
Why does the verb "iść" change to "szedłem" here? It looks completely different!
The verb iść (to walk or go on foot) has a highly irregular past tense. For a masculine speaker saying "I was walking", the stem changes to sz- and adds -edł- plus the standard -em ending, making szedłem. If a female speaker were saying this, she would use sz- plus -ł- and -am, making szłam.
Why do we use the preposition "po" for walking on the pavement and stairs?
The preposition po is used to mean "on", "along", or "over" a surface when you are in motion across it. When you talk about walking along a path, street, or stairs in Polish, po is the natural choice. It requires the following noun to be in the Locative case.
How do the words "tym chodniku" show the Locative case?
The base word for pavement is chodnik, which is a masculine noun. In the Locative case, masculine nouns usually take a -u or -e ending; here it takes -u. The word for "this" (ten) changes to its matching Locative masculine form, which is tym.
Why is the word for stairs "schodach"?
The base word is schody (stairs), which is a plural-only word in Polish. Because it comes after po, it needs to be in the Locative case. In the Locative plural, almost all Polish nouns end in -ach, giving us schodach.
Why is the second verb "iść" left in the infinitive instead of a past tense form like "szedłem"?
The word żeby means "in order to" or "so that". When the person performing the action is the same in both parts of the sentence (I walked in order for me not to walk on the stairs), you simply follow żeby with the infinitive form of the verb.
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