Word
Niestety nie mogłem wczoraj dołączyć do spotkania.
Meaning
Unfortunately I couldn't join the meeting yesterday.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Niestety nie mogłem wczoraj dołączyć do spotkania.
nie
no / not
móc
to be able to
spotkanie
meeting (n)
do
to
Questions & Answers about Niestety nie mogłem wczoraj dołączyć do spotkania.
Why is it mogłem here, when the dictionary form is móc and the 'he' form is mógł?
The verb móc (to be able to) has a tricky past tense. The root vowel changes depending on who is acting. For a man ('I'), it is mogłem (using an 'o'). But for 'he', the 'o' changes to an 'ó', making it mógł. A woman ('she') goes back to the 'o' sound with mogła, and a group of men ('they') uses mogli.
How do I know if a man or a woman is saying this sentence?
You can tell by the ending of mogłem. The -em ending on a past tense verb is for masculine speakers. A female speaker would use the feminine ending -am, so she would say nie mogłam.
Why is do used after dołączyć?
In English, you just 'join a meeting', but in Polish, the verb dołączyć (to join) pairs with the preposition do (to/into). You are literally saying that you 'joined to' the meeting.
What case is spotkania, and why?
It is in the Genitive case. The dictionary form is spotkanie (a neuter noun). It changes to spotkania because the preposition do always forces the noun that follows it into the Genitive case.