Breakdown of Mój brat musi ugotować zupę bez czosnku i cebuli.
i
and
brat
brother
zupa
soup
mój
my
musieć
to have to
ugotować
to cook (perfective)
bez
without
cebula
onion
czosnek
garlic
Questions & Answers about Mój brat musi ugotować zupę bez czosnku i cebuli.
Why do we use czosnku and cebuli instead of their dictionary forms here?
The preposition bez (without) always requires the following nouns to be in the Genitive case. Because czosnek (garlic) and cebula (onion) are joined by i (and), both words are affected by bez and must take their Genitive endings.
What happened to the 'e' in czosnek when it changed to czosnku?
This is an example of the 'fleeting e'. In many Polish masculine words ending in -ek or -ec, the 'e' drops out when you add an ending to change the case. That is why czosnek becomes czosnku, rather than 'czosneku'.
If bez triggers the Genitive case, why is zupa changed to zupę?
The word zupa (soup) is not affected by bez. It is the direct object of the verb ugotować (to cook), which requires the Accusative case. For feminine nouns ending in -a, that means changing the ending to -ę. The preposition bez only affects the nouns that come after it.
Why does the sentence use ugotować instead of gotować for 'to cook'?
Ugotować is the perfective version of the verb, which means it focuses on a completed result. The brother doesn't just need to spend time in the process of cooking (gotować); he needs to actually finish making the soup.
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