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Przetrwaliśmy burzę, bo zostaliśmy w domu przez cały dzień.

Przetrwaliśmy burzę, bo zostaliśmy w domu przez cały dzień.
We survived the storm because we stayed at home for the whole day.
From Lesson 146:Expressing duration (przez)·Polish

Questions & Answers about Przetrwaliśmy burzę, bo zostaliśmy w domu przez cały dzień.

Why is 'for the whole day' translated as przez cały dzień?
To express how long an action lasted, Polish uses przez followed by the Accusative case. While przez usually means 'through,' in time expressions like this one, it translates to 'for' (a duration).
Is cały dzień in the Accusative case here? It looks like the basic dictionary form.
Yes, it is in the Accusative case! Because dzień (day) is an inanimate masculine noun, its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its basic Nominative form. The adjective cały (whole) follows the same rule.
Does the prze- at the start of przetrwaliśmy mean anything specific?
Yes! The prefix prze- often adds the meaning of 'through' or 'across' to a verb. Here, it turns trwać (to last) into przetrwać (to last through, meaning 'to survive').
Why do both przetrwaliśmy and zostaliśmy end in -liśmy?
The -liśmy ending shows that the subject is 'we' (first-person plural in the past tense) and that the group includes at least one male. If a group of only women were speaking, they would say przetrwałyśmy and zostałyśmy.
Why is it burzę instead of burza?
Burza (storm) is the direct object of the verb przetrwaliśmy (we survived). Because it is a feminine noun ending in -a, it changes to -ę in the Accusative case.

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