Breakdown of Czekał przez chwilę, ale wreszcie poszedł.
ale
but
czekać
to wait
wreszcie
finally
pójść
to go (on foot)
przez
for (a period of time)
chwila
moment
Questions & Answers about Czekał przez chwilę, ale wreszcie poszedł.
Why do we use przez chwilę here to say 'for a moment'?
In Polish, to say you did something 'for' a certain amount of time, you use the preposition przez followed by the Accusative case. The basic word for 'a moment' is the feminine noun chwila, which changes its ending from -a to -ę in the Accusative, giving us przez chwilę.
Could I just say czekał chwilę without the word przez?
Yes! When expressing duration, Polish speakers often drop przez completely. Saying czekał chwilę is very natural and means exactly the same thing. Including przez just puts a little more emphasis on the time spent waiting.
Why are we using an imperfective verb (czekał) and then a perfective verb (poszedł) in the same sentence?
This perfectly shows how the two verb aspects work together. He was in the ongoing, unfinished process of waiting, so we use the imperfective czekał. Then, he made a single, completed action to leave, which interrupted or ended the waiting—so we use the perfective poszedł.
I don't recognize poszedł. What verb does this come from?
Poszedł is the masculine past tense form of pójść (to go, to set off, to leave). It is a highly irregular verb! In the past tense, the stem changes completely depending on who is doing the action: 'he went' is poszedł, 'she went' is poszła, and 'they went' is poszli.
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