Breakdown of Silnik jest zepsuty, zatem musimy go naprawić.
być
to be
on
he / it (m)
musieć
to have to
naprawić
to fix (perfective)
zepsuty
broken
silnik
engine
zatem
therefore (thus)
Questions & Answers about Silnik jest zepsuty, zatem musimy go naprawić.
Could I use więc instead of zatem in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! Both express a logical consequence. The difference is mainly in tone: zatem sounds a bit more formal or analytical, like English 'therefore' or 'thus', while więc is your everyday 'so'. A mechanic giving you an official diagnosis might use zatem, but chatting with a friend you'd probably just say więc.
I thought go meant 'him'. Why does it mean 'it' here?
The word silnik (engine) is a masculine noun. In Polish, the accusative (direct object) pronoun for a singular masculine noun is go, regardless of whether it's a person ('him') or an inanimate object ('it'). Even though masculine inanimate nouns don't change their own endings in the accusative case, they still use go as a pronoun.
Why do we use the perfective verb naprawić here instead of the imperfective naprawiać?
We use naprawić because the goal is to get the engine completely fixed. Perfective verbs focus on the completion or result of an action. If you used naprawiać, it would mean 'we have to spend time working on it' without necessarily emphasizing that the job actually gets finished.
Could we say zepsuł się instead of jest zepsuty?
Yes, you could! Jest zepsuty describes a current state ('is broken'), while zepsuł się refers to the past event ('broke down'). In this context, both would express the exact same practical problem, but this sentence chooses to focus on the current broken state of the engine.
Learn Silnik jest zepsuty, zatem musimy go naprawić 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