Breakdown of Wszyscy byli zadowoleni, kiedy zobaczyli te nowe dekoracje.
być
to be
nowy
new
wszyscy
everyone / all (the)
zobaczyć
to see (perfective)
kiedy
when
te
these
dekoracja
decoration
zadowolony
satisfied
Questions & Answers about Wszyscy byli zadowoleni, kiedy zobaczyli te nowe dekoracje.
Why do we use wszyscy here instead of wszystko?
Wszyscy means "everyone" or "all people" and is used as a plural subject. Wszystko means "everything" and is treated grammatically as a singular, neuter thing. Since we are talking about people being satisfied, we must use the plural form wszyscy.
Why do we say byli zadowoleni instead of były zadowolone?
The pronoun wszyscy acts as a "masculine personal" plural, which is used for mixed groups or groups with at least one man. Any verbs and adjectives connected to it must match this gender, giving us byli and zadowoleni. If this were a group of only women, the sentence would start with the "non-masculine personal" forms: Wszystkie były zadowolone.
Why is the verb zobaczyli (perfective) used here instead of widzieli (imperfective)?
Zobaczyli describes a completed action or the exact moment of catching sight of something. The sentence talks about the specific event that triggered their satisfaction. If you used widzieli, it would mean "were seeing" or "used to see," which sounds like a continuous background action rather than the event that made them happy.
What case is te nowe dekoracje in this sentence?
It is in the Accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb zobaczyli (they saw). For non-masculine-personal plurals (like feminine objects and animals), the Accusative form is identical to the Nominative plural form. This is why the phrase doesn't look like it has changed from its basic plural form.
Learn Wszyscy byli zadowoleni, kiedy zobaczyli te nowe dekoracje 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