Breakdown of Ona zawsze marzy o tym, żeby kupić jacht.
to
this
ona
she / it (f)
zawsze
always
kupić
to buy (perfective)
żeby
so that, in order to
o
about
jacht
yacht
marzyć
to dream
Questions & Answers about Ona zawsze marzy o tym, żeby kupić jacht.
Why do we need o tym here instead of just saying Ona zawsze marzy, żeby...?
In Polish, the verb marzyć (to dream) pairs with the preposition o (about). You cannot attach o directly to a connecting word like żeby. Instead, Polish uses a "dummy" pronoun to (this/it). So, you literally say "she dreams about this, that..." (marzy o tym, żeby...).
Why is the word for "this" spelled tym?
The preposition o (when meaning "about") requires the following noun or pronoun to be in the Locative case. The Locative form of the pronoun to (this/it) is tym.
How does żeby relate to the conditional mood we are learning?
The word żeby is a combination of że (that) and the conditional particle by. It is used to express hypothetical situations, goals, or desires. While English simply says "dreams of buying", Polish frames it hypothetically: "dreams about this, that she would buy".
Why is kupić in the infinitive here, instead of a conditional verb form like kupiłaby?
Because the person dreaming and the person buying the yacht are the same. When the subject is the same for both actions, Polish uses żeby + the infinitive (kupić). If she dreamed that someone else would buy a yacht, you would use a conjugated conditional verb, like żeby on kupił (that he would buy).
Is jacht in the dictionary form (Nominative case) here?
It looks like it, but it is actually in the Accusative case because it is the direct object being bought. For masculine inanimate nouns like jacht, the Accusative form is identical to the Nominative form.
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