Breakdown of Dodałam trochę wody zamiast mleka, bo jestem na diecie.
być
to be
woda
water
mleko
milk
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
trochę
a little / some
bo
because
zamiast
instead of
dieta
diet
dodać
to add
Questions & Answers about Dodałam trochę wody zamiast mleka, bo jestem na diecie.
Why does the word mleko change to mleka here?
The preposition zamiast (instead of) requires the noun that follows it to take the Genitive case. Since mleko is a neuter noun, its Genitive form is mleka.
Why is it wody instead of the Accusative wodę? Doesn't the verb add take a direct object?
You are right that direct objects usually take the Accusative case. However, the word trochę (a little) is a quantifier. In Polish, quantifiers override the verb and force the noun that follows them into the Genitive case. So, woda becomes wody.
How do we know the gender of the person speaking?
Why does the word dieta change to diecie?
The phrase na diecie (on a diet) uses the preposition na to describe a state, which triggers the Locative case here. For feminine nouns ending in -ta, the Locative ending causes a consonant mutation where t softens to ci, making it diecie.
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