Questions & Answers about Szukaliśmy dzikiego stada wśród drzew.
Why is drzew in the Genitive case here?
The preposition wśród (among) always requires the Genitive case. Since we are talking about multiple trees, we use the Genitive plural form of drzewo, which is drzew.
Why does the word for trees, drzew, look so short? Doesn't the Genitive plural usually add an ending?
Actually, neuter nouns that end in -o (like drzewo) and feminine nouns ending in -a usually form the Genitive plural by dropping that final vowel, leaving what is called a zero ending. So, drzewo simply loses its -o to become drzew.
Why do we use the Genitive dzikiego stada instead of the Accusative dzikie stado for the thing being searched for?
The verb szukać (to look for, to seek) is one of those common Polish verbs that always forces its object to take the Genitive case instead of the standard Accusative.
What does the ending of szukaliśmy tell us about who was looking?
The -liśmy ending shows this is the first-person plural (we) in the masculine personal form. This means the group of people looking included at least one man. If it had been a group of only women, the verb would be szukałyśmy.