Breakdown of Ona poszła do swojego pokoju, bo nie lubi cudzego bałaganu.
ona
she / it (f)
nie
no / not
lubić
to like
pokój
room
bo
because
do
to
swój
one's own
pójść
to go (on foot)
bałagan
mess
cudzy
someone else's
Questions & Answers about Ona poszła do swojego pokoju, bo nie lubi cudzego bałaganu.
Why do we use swojego here instead of jej (her)?
In Polish, when the subject of the sentence owns the object being talked about, you must use the reflexive possessive pronoun swój (meaning "one's own"). Since "She" is the subject and it's "her" room, we use a form of swój. If you said do jej pokoju, it would mean she went into some other woman's room.
Why is swój in the form swojego in this sentence?
The preposition do (to/into) always requires the Genitive case. The noun pokój (room) is masculine, so swój must take the masculine Genitive ending, becoming swojego.
Wait, doesn't the verb lubić (to like) usually take the Accusative case? Why is it cudzego bałaganu?
You're right that lubić normally takes the Accusative. However, when a verb is negated (like nie lubi), the direct object switches to the Genitive case. So, instead of the Accusative cudzy bałagan, we use the Genitive cudzego bałaganu.
What is the base form of cudzego and how does it work?
The base form is cudzy, which is an adjective meaning "someone else's" or "foreign". Because it's an adjective describing bałaganu (which is in the Genitive case), it takes the masculine Genitive adjective ending -ego, just like swojego does.
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