Questions & Answers about Zima zabiła nasze kwiaty.
Why does the verb zabiła end in -a?
In Polish, past tense verbs must agree with the gender of the subject. Because the subject zima (winter) is a feminine noun, the verb takes the feminine past tense ending -a.
Is kwiaty in the accusative case here? Why doesn't the word change?
Yes, it is the direct object of the verb, so it is in the accusative case. However, for non-living things in the plural, the accusative form is exactly the same as the nominative (dictionary) form. Therefore, kwiaty stays kwiaty.
Why do we use nasze instead of nasi for 'our'?
In the plural, Polish splits adjectives and pronouns into two groups: masculine-personal (groups containing at least one man) and non-masculine-personal (everything else, including women, animals, and objects). Since flowers (kwiaty) are objects, we use the non-masculine-personal form nasze.
Is zabiła a perfective or imperfective verb?
It is perfective, coming from the infinitive zabić. It shows that the action was a single, completed event. If you wanted to say 'was killing' as an ongoing process, you would use the imperfective verb zabijała.
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