Breakdown of Musisz podejść do lady i zapłacić rachunek.
i
and
musieć
to have to
do
to
zapłacić
to pay (perfective)
rachunek
the bill
podejść
to walk up / to approach (a person or object)
lada
counter
Questions & Answers about Musisz podejść do lady i zapłacić rachunek.
Why use podejść here instead of just pójść?
The prefix pod- adds the specific meaning of approaching or coming right up close to something. While pójść just means to go somewhere, podejść do lady focuses on the action of walking right up to the counter.
What case follows do in the phrase do lady, and what is the base word?
The preposition do always takes the Genitive case. The base word is lada (counter). Because it is a feminine noun ending in -a, its Genitive form changes to -y, making it do lady. Verbs with the pod- prefix are very often paired with do + Genitive to show exactly what you are approaching.
Both podejść and zapłacić are perfective verbs. Why are we using perfective verbs after musisz?
When you have a sequence of actions that need to be completed one after the other (first walk up, then pay), you use perfective verbs. You are talking about doing this specific task from start to finish, not a continuous or repeated habit.
The word rachunek is the direct object of zapłacić. Why doesn't it have an Accusative ending?
It actually is in the Accusative case! Rachunek is a masculine inanimate noun (a thing, not a person or animal). For masculine inanimate nouns, the Accusative case looks exactly the same as the basic Nominative dictionary form.
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