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Według oficjalnego źródła to był jakiś błąd.

Według oficjalnego źródła to był jakiś błąd.
According to an official source, it was some mistake.
From Lesson 209:According to (według)·Polish

Questions & Answers about Według oficjalnego źródła to był jakiś błąd.

How does the word według change the ending of oficjalne źródło?
Według (according to) always requires the noun phrase following it to be in the Genitive case. So, the neuter phrase oficjalne źródło (official source) changes its endings to become oficjalnego źródła.
Why is the verb był masculine when the subject is the neuter word to?
In sentences structured like 'to + [verb to be] + [noun]' (meaning 'it is / this is a...'), the past tense verb must match the gender of the noun that follows it, not the pronoun to. Because błąd (mistake) is masculine, the verb becomes był instead of było.
What does jakiś add to this sentence? Could I just say to był błąd?
You could definitely just say to był błąd (it was a mistake). Adding the pronoun jakiś means 'some' or 'some kind of.' It emphasizes that the exact nature of the mistake is unspecified or unknown, so it was just some mistake.
I thought words ending in -a were usually feminine. Is źródła feminine here?
No, it is actually a neuter noun! In its basic dictionary form, it is źródło. Neuter nouns that end in -o change their ending to -a in the Genitive case, which is exactly what is happening here after według.

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