Breakdown of Wczoraj zostawił swój nowy laptop.
nowy
new
wczoraj
yesterday
swój
one's own
zostawić
to leave behind (perfective)
laptop
laptop
Questions & Answers about Wczoraj zostawił swój nowy laptop.
Why does this sentence use swój instead of jego for "his"?
swój means "one's own". We use it because the person doing the action (he) is also the owner of the laptop. If the sentence said Wczoraj zostawił jego nowy laptop, it would mean he left another man's laptop, not his own.
laptop is the direct object here, so why don't swój and nowy change their endings for the accusative case?
Because laptop is a masculine inanimate noun (a non-living thing). For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative case looks exactly the same as the nominative (dictionary) case. That is why swój and nowy do not take the typical accusative endings you see on animate nouns.
Where is the word for "he" in this sentence?
Polish often drops subject pronouns like on (he) because the verb's ending already gives you the information. The -ł ending on the past tense verb zostawił tells us the subject is a single male.
Is zostawił a perfective or imperfective verb?
zostawił is the perfective form. It shows that the action of leaving the laptop behind was a single, completed event that happened yesterday.
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