Question 1

Why does the verb odwiedzały look like a past tense word if this sentence is in the future?

Accepted Answer

In Polish, one way to form the future tense for imperfective (ongoing or repeated) actions is to combine the future form of the verb to be (będziemy) with the past tense l-participle form of the main verb (odwiedzały).

Question 2

Why is the ending -ły used in odwiedzały instead of -li (odwiedzali)?

Accepted Answer

The ending -ły is the non-virile plural form. This tells us that the group of people saying "we" does not include any men; it is a group of women. If there were at least one man in the group, they would say nie będziemy odwiedzali.

Question 3

Could I also say Nie będziemy go odwiedzać using the infinitive?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely! The future imperfective tense can be made using either the l-participle (odwiedzały) or the infinitive (odwiedzać). Both mean the exact same thing, but the l-participle version gives extra detail about the gender of the speakers.

Question 4

Since there is a nie at the start of the sentence, is go in the Genitive case?

Accepted Answer

Spot on! The verb odwiedzać normally takes the Accusative case, but when you make a sentence negative, the direct object switches to the Genitive case. This is called the Genitive of Negation. Luckily, for the pronoun on (he), the short form for both Accusative and Genitive is exactly the same: go.

Question 5

Why is the Locative form w szpitalu instead of w szpitalie?

Accepted Answer

Masculine nouns ending in a soft consonant, like the -l in szpital, take the -u ending in the Locative case. You use the -e ending for masculine nouns that end in a hard consonant, like sklep becoming w sklepie.

Nie będziemy go odwiedzały w szpitalu.

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