Breakdown of Oni wylecieli do Ameryki wczoraj wieczorem.
oni
they (masculine personal)
wieczorem
in the evening
do
to
wczoraj
yesterday
Questions & Answers about Oni wylecieli do Ameryki wczoraj wieczorem.
How does the prefix wy- change the verb here?
The base verb lecieć means to fly. Adding the prefix wy- creates wylecieć, meaning to fly out or to depart by plane. This prefix also makes the verb perfective, focusing on the completed action of leaving.
Why does the verb end in -li (wylecieli)?
The subject is oni (they), which is used for groups containing at least one male. This requires the masculine personal past tense ending -li. If the group was entirely female, the pronoun would be one and the verb would be wyleciały.
Why is America spelled Ameryki in this sentence?
The preposition do (to) always requires the noun to be in the Genitive case. For feminine nouns like Ameryka, the ending changes to -i after a k, making it do Ameryki.
Why do we say wieczorem instead of just wieczór?
When talking about an action happening during a specific part of the day, Polish uses the Instrumental case. The basic noun wieczór (evening) changes to wieczorem to mean in the evening.