Question 1

Why does this sentence use the past tense poprawił when 'I want you to correct' is about the future?

Accepted Answer

When you want someone else to do something, Polish uses żeby followed by the past tense form of the verb (the l-participle). The personal ending -ś (you) attaches to żeby to make żebyś, leaving the main verb in its base 3rd-person past form poprawił.

Question 2

How do we know from the Polish sentence that I am speaking to a man?

Accepted Answer

The past tense form of the verb shows the gender. Even though the 'you' ending -ś jumped over to the front to create żebyś, the main verb is still the masculine form poprawił. If you were telling a woman to do this, you would say Chcę, żebyś natychmiast poprawiła.

Question 3

I hear native speakers say tą prezentację all the time. Why is it tę here?

Accepted Answer

The word prezentacja is a feminine noun, and the direct object of the sentence needs the accusative case. In strictly correct written Polish, the feminine accusative of 'this' is tę. In everyday spoken Polish, native speakers very frequently say tą (which is technically the instrumental case), but since correcting a presentation implies a professional or academic setting, the grammatically strict tę is better here.

Question 4

Could I use the imperfective verb poprawiał instead of the perfective poprawił?

Accepted Answer

It would sound strange here. You want the action to be successfully completed, not just an ongoing process. Using the perfective verb poprawić means you want the presentation completely corrected and finished, which makes perfect sense when you are demanding it to be done natychmiast (immediately).

Chcę, żebyś natychmiast poprawił tę prezentację.

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