Breakdown of Gdybym wygrał na loterii, zostawiłbym swoją pracę.
praca
work
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
swój
one's own
zostawić
to leave behind (perfective)
wygrać
to win
gdyby
if (hypothetical)
loteria
lottery
Questions & Answers about Gdybym wygrał na loterii, zostawiłbym swoją pracę.
Why does it say Gdybym wygrał instead of Gdyby wygrałbym?
In Polish, conditional endings like -bym (I would) often detach from the verb and attach to the first emphasized word in a clause, especially conjunctions like gdyby (if). Because the -m is already attached to gdyby to make gdybym, the verb wygrał just stays in its normal past tense form. You only use the personal ending once per clause!
How do we know the speaker is male, and how would a woman say this?
The conditional mood is built using past tense verb forms, which show gender. Wygrał and zostawił are the masculine forms. A woman would use the feminine past tense forms and say: Gdybym wygrała na loterii, zostawiłabym swoją pracę.
Why is it na loterii instead of just translating 'the lottery' directly?
In English you 'win the lottery', but in Polish you win 'on the lottery'. The preposition na requires the Locative case here, which changes the base word loteria to loterii.
Why use swoją instead of moją for 'my'?
Polish uses the reflexive pronoun swój (meaning 'one's own') whenever the thing belongs to the subject of the sentence. Since the subject 'I' am leaving 'my own' job, swoją is the most natural and common choice, even though moją wouldn't be strictly misunderstood.
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