Breakdown of Wczoraj spotkałem starego kolegę.
stary
old
kolega
the colleague (m) / the friend (m)
wczoraj
yesterday
spotkać
to meet, to run into (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Wczoraj spotkałem starego kolegę.
Why does kolegę end in -ę if "kolega" is a masculine noun?
Although kolega is a masculine word (referring to a male friend), it ends in -a. In Polish, masculine nouns ending in -a follow the feminine noun rules in the singular. To make it the direct object (accusative case) for the verb spotkałem, you change the -a to -ę, just like you would for a feminine word.
If kolegę uses a feminine noun ending here, why is the adjective starego in the masculine form?
This is a classic Polish grammar trap! Even though the noun kolega borrows feminine endings, it is still logically a masculine person. Adjectives must always match the noun's true gender. For a masculine person in the accusative case, the adjective ending is -ego, which gives us starego (instead of the feminine starą).
How can we tell the gender of the person speaking in this sentence?
The verb spotkałem gives it away. In the Polish past tense, the ending tells you the gender of the speaker. The -łem ending means "I (a male)" did the action. If a woman were saying this sentence, she would say spotkałam.
Why use the perfective verb spotkałem instead of the imperfective spotykałem?
You use the perfective spotkałem because meeting the friend was a single, completed action that happened and finished yesterday. If you used the imperfective spotykałem, it would mean you were in the middle of meeting him, or that you used to meet him repeatedly over time.
Does kolega mean a "colleague" from work or a "friend"?
It can mean both, but in everyday Polish, kolega is the standard word for a general "friend" or "buddy" rather than just a coworker. If you want to specify a very close friend, you would use przyjaciel, but kolega is much more common for everyday friendships.
Learn Wczoraj spotkałem starego kolegę and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free