Breakdown of Pamiętam rok, kiedy kończyłem liceum i pisałem maturę.
i
and
pisać
to write
rok
year
kiedy
when
pamiętać
to remember
kończyć
to finish (imperfective)
liceum
the high school
matura
the high school exit exam
Questions & Answers about Pamiętam rok, kiedy kończyłem liceum i pisałem maturę.
Can I use w którym instead of kiedy in this sentence?
Yes! When referring back to a noun of time like rok (year), you can use kiedy (when) as a relative pronoun. It means exactly the same thing as using the preposition and declined pronoun w którym (in which), but kiedy is often much easier to use since you don't have to worry about cases.
Why do we use the imperfective verbs kończyłem and pisałem here instead of perfective ones?
The speaker is describing the general background or the ongoing experience of that entire year rather than a single completed event. Using the imperfective focuses on the process of finishing high school and the period of taking the exams, which fits the nostalgic memory being shared.
Why does the speaker use pisałem (I was writing) with maturę? Do Polish students not "take" exams?
In Polish, you typically "write" (pisać) or "pass/take" (zdawać) an exam. The phrase pisać maturę is the most standard, natural way to say "to take the matura exam." You will hear this same verb used for regular school tests as well (pisać test).
The word liceum is the direct object of the verb. Why doesn't its ending change for the accusative case?
It actually is in the accusative case! However, neuter nouns of foreign origin ending in -um (like liceum, muzeum, or centrum) are special: they do not change their form at all anywhere in the singular. They use the exact same word for every single case, and only start declining in the plural.
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