Learn Polish: To nie moja wina, że nie mogłam odwołać tego lotu. - It's not my fault that I couldn't cancel this flight.

To nie moja wina, że nie mogłam odwołać tego lotu.

It's not my fault that I couldn't cancel this flight.

Breakdown of To nie moja wina, że nie mogłam odwołać tego lotu.

Questions & Answers about To nie moja wina, że nie mogłam odwołać tego lotu.

Why is it mogłam and not mógłam?

The verb móc (to be able to) has a tricky vowel change in the past tense. Only the third-person masculine singular form (he could) uses the ó to become mógł. Every other past tense form uses a regular o. That is why a woman says mogłam (and a man says mogłem), keeping the regular o.

Why is it tego lotu (genitive case) instead of the accusative ten lot?

This happens because of the word nie! When you negate a verb, its direct object usually changes from the accusative case to the genitive case. Even though the negation is attached to the modal verb (nie mogłam) rather than the main action (odwołać), this genitive rule still applies to the object of the action.

Can I include the verb jest and say To nie jest moja wina?

Yes, you absolutely can. Both are grammatically correct. However, in everyday spoken Polish, it is extremely common to drop the verb być (to be) in simple identification phrases like this one. To nie moja wina sounds very natural and conversational.

Is odwołać (to cancel) a perfective or imperfective verb?