Breakdown of Wczoraj byłam u krawcowej.
być
to be
wczoraj
yesterday
u
at, at the place of
krawcowa
dressmaker
Questions & Answers about Wczoraj byłam u krawcowej.
Why does krawcowej end in -ej instead of the usual -y or -i for feminine genitive nouns?
Because krawcowa (dressmaker) is a special type of noun that declines exactly like an adjective. Just as a feminine adjective takes the -ej ending in the genitive case, krawcowa becomes krawcowej after the preposition u.
Does the word byłam tell us anything about the person speaking?
Yes, the -am ending on the verb tells us the speaker is female. If a man were saying "I was" yesterday, he would use the masculine past tense form and say byłem.
Could I say w krawcowej since she works in a shop or building?
No, because krawcowa refers to the professional person, not the building itself. In Polish, when you are visiting a person's workspace, office, or home, you always use the preposition u (at). You would only use w (in) for a physical location, like w sklepie (in the shop).
If I want to say "I was going to the dressmaker," do I still use u?
No, u only describes being currently located at someone's place. If you want to express motion toward a person, you use the preposition do (to), which conveniently also takes the genitive case. For example, "I went to the dressmaker" would be Poszłam do krawcowej.
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