Breakdown of Gdybyśmy odrzucili ten szczegółowy plan, żałowałbym.
ten
this (m)
plan
plan
żałować
to regret
gdyby
if (hypothetical)
odrzucić
to reject
szczegółowy
detailed
Questions & Answers about Gdybyśmy odrzucili ten szczegółowy plan, żałowałbym.
Why is the ending -śmy attached to Gdyby instead of the verb?
In Polish conditionals, the conditional particle by is built right into the word gdyby. The personal ending for 'we' (-śmy) loves to move to the front of the clause and attach directly to this conjunction, creating Gdybyśmy. The verb odrzucili is left in its base participle form. In this structure, you cannot attach the ending to the verb.
Why does odrzucili look like a 'they' form if the sentence means 'we rejected'?
Because the 'we' part is completely handled by the -śmy attached to Gdybyśmy, the verb just needs to show gender and number. Odrzucili is the plural masculine personal (virile) form, meaning this 'we' group includes at least one man. If a group of exclusively women were speaking, they would say Gdybyśmy odrzuciły.
The verb odrzucili means 'rejected'. Does that negative meaning trigger the genitive case for the plan?
No. Even though rejecting something has a negative meaning, the Polish verb is grammatically affirmative because it doesn't have the negative word nie in front of it. Therefore, it takes the standard accusative case for its direct object. This is why we see the masculine inanimate accusative form ten szczegółowy plan instead of the genitive.
In the second part of the sentence, why doesn't the ending detach from żałowałbym?
In the first clause, the strong conjunction gdyby acted like a magnet, pulling the personal ending away from the verb. In the second clause, there is no such conjunction. Therefore, the conditional particle -by and the first-person ending -m attach directly to the end of the verb żałował, forming żałowałbym (I would regret). The base żałował also reveals that the speaker is male.
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