Breakdown of Czy dojechaliście do nowego pomnika?
czy
[question particle]
nowy
new
do
to
dojechać
to reach (by vehicle)
pomnik
monument (memorial, statue)
Questions & Answers about Czy dojechaliście do nowego pomnika?
What is the difference between jechaliście and dojechaliście?
The base verb jechaliście is imperfective and just focuses on the journey: "you were driving". Adding the prefix do- makes it perfective and changes the focus to reaching the destination. So, dojechaliście means "you successfully arrived (by vehicle)" or "you drove all the way to".
Why is do used twice in this sentence?
It's very common in Polish to double up like this! The prefix do- attached to the verb dojechaliście tells us the action is about completing a journey to a goal. However, you still need the separate preposition do (meaning "to") right after the verb to link it to the actual destination (nowego pomnika).
Why is the destination written as nowego pomnika instead of nowy pomnik?
The preposition do always forces the words that follow it into the Genitive case. Since pomnik (monument) is a masculine noun, it takes the Genitive ending -a, and its adjective nowy (new) takes the ending -ego.
Who exactly is being addressed by the verb dojechaliście?
The ending -liście is the past tense form for the plural "you" when speaking to a group that includes at least one male (masculine personal). If you were asking a group of only females, you would use the non-masculine form dojechałyście.
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