Question 1

Why do we use ponieważ at the beginning of this sentence instead of the shorter word bo?

Accepted Answer

While bo is very common for "because" in the middle of a sentence, Polish speakers generally avoid starting a sentence with it. Ponieważ is the perfect choice for the beginning of a sentence to mean "since" or "because," which is the focus of this lesson.

Question 2

Why is the verb była in the feminine form when the pronoun before it is the neuter to?

Accepted Answer

When you use to plus the past tense of być (to be) to identify something, the word to never changes form. Instead, the verb matches the gender of the noun that follows. Because awaria (breakdown) is feminine, the verb must be the feminine była.

Question 3

What verb does the adjective nieoczekiwana come from?

Accepted Answer

It comes from the verb oczekiwać, which means "to expect." It is turned into an adjective meaning "expected" (oczekiwana) and then reversed with the prefix nie- to mean "unexpected." It ends in -a here because it describes the feminine noun awaria.

Question 4

How would the sentence change if I were speaking to a woman?

Accepted Answer

The word powinieneś (you should) is in the masculine form, meaning this sentence is directed at a man. If you are speaking to a woman, you would change it to the feminine form, making the second half of the sentence nie powinnaś narzekać.

Ponieważ to była nieoczekiwana awaria, nie powinieneś narzekać.

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