Breakdown of Teren był trudny, ale chcemy przejechać przez las.
być
to be
chcieć
to want
ale
but
las
forest
przez
through, across
trudny
difficult
przejechać
to drive across
teren
terrain
Questions & Answers about Teren był trudny, ale chcemy przejechać przez las.
How does the prefix prze- change the verb jechać here?
Adding the prefix prze- to jechać (to go/drive) creates the perfective verb przejechać, which means to drive through or to cross. In this lesson, you will often see a prze- verb paired with the preposition przez (through) to talk about successfully crossing a space from one side to the other.
Why is las used here without an ending? Doesn't the preposition przez require the Accusative case?
Yes, the preposition przez always takes the Accusative case! However, las (forest) is a masculine inanimate noun. For masculine inanimate nouns, the Accusative form is exactly the same as the Nominative (dictionary) form, which is why it looks like it hasn't changed.
Why are we using the infinitive przejechać instead of conjugating it?
We leave przejechać in its infinitive form because it comes directly after the conjugated verb chcemy (we want). Just like in English (we want TO drive), the second verb in a double-verb chain stays in the infinitive.
The first half of the sentence is in the past tense (był), but the second half is in the present (chcemy). Is this normal?
Yes, this is very natural in Polish. The speaker is referring to a past experience or assessment of the terrain (Teren był trudny - maybe they checked a map or struggled with it earlier), but their desire to keep going and cross it is happening right now (ale chcemy).
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