Breakdown of Zachorowałem na grypę.
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
grypa
flu
zachorować
to fall ill (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Zachorowałem na grypę.
Why is the verb zachorowałem instead of chorowałem?
Zachorowałem is a perfective verb, which focuses on a completed action or a sudden change of state. Here, it means 'I got sick' or 'I fell ill.' If you used the imperfective verb chorowałem, it would mean 'I was sick' over a continuous period of time.
English uses 'with the flu', so why does Polish use the preposition na?
Different languages use different prepositions for the same idea. In Polish, when you catch a specific illness, you use the preposition na (which often means 'on' or 'for'). Using z (with) would be incorrect here.
Why is it grypę instead of the dictionary word grypa?
The phrase zachorować na (to get sick with) requires the disease to be in the accusative case. Because grypa is a feminine noun ending in -a, that ending changes to -ę in the accusative case.
How would a female speaker say this sentence?
A woman would say Zachorowałam na grypę. In the Polish past tense, the verb ending changes based on the speaker's gender. The -łem ending is masculine, and the -łam ending is feminine.
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