Breakdown of Goście zwykle przyjeżdżają taksówką.
zwykle
usually
gość
guest
taksówka
taxi
przyjeżdżać
to arrive (by vehicle, imperfective)
Questions & Answers about Goście zwykle przyjeżdżają taksówką.
This lesson is about perfective arrival verbs like przyjechać. Why does this sentence use the imperfective przyjeżdżają?
Because of the word zwykle (usually). Whenever an action is repeated, habitual, or happens "usually", you must use the imperfective aspect. So, instead of the perfective przyjechać (to arrive once), we use the imperfective przyjeżdżać (to arrive regularly).
How exactly does the prefix przy- change the verb here?
In Polish motion verbs, the prefix przy- indicates arrival, reaching a destination, or coming closer. While the base verbs like jechać or jeździć just mean "to go by vehicle", adding przy- turns them into "to arrive by vehicle".
Why is "taxi" written as taksówką with an -ą at the end?
It is in the Instrumental case. When you talk about the means of transport you use, Polish doesn't use a preposition like the English "by". Instead, you just put the vehicle in the Instrumental case. Since taksówka is a feminine noun ending in -a, it changes to -ą.
The word for guests is goście. What is the singular form of this word?
The singular is gość (guest). It is a masculine noun that refers to a person. Because its base ends in a soft sound (-ść), it takes the -ie ending to become plural.