Breakdown of Sędzia i adwokat nie widzieli tego dowodu.
i
and
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
widzieć
to see
dowód
proof
sędzia
judge
adwokat
lawyer (advocate, attorney)
Questions & Answers about Sędzia i adwokat nie widzieli tego dowodu.
Why is the evidence in the Genitive case (tego dowodu) instead of the Accusative (ten dowód)?
Because the verb is negated (nie widzieli). The verb widzieć (to see) normally takes a direct object in the Accusative case, but in Polish, whenever a direct object is negated, it automatically flips to the Genitive case. This is a crucial rule you will see everywhere.
The word sędzia ends in -a. Why does the verb use the masculine personal ending (widzieli)?
Sędzia (judge) is a masculine noun that just happens to end in -a. Because the subject includes at least one male person (or refers to mixed-gender professionals in a general sense), it triggers the masculine personal (virile) ending -li in the past tense plural verb.
How would we rewrite this sentence in the dynamic passive voice using zostać?
You would say: Ten dowód nie został zobaczony przez sędziego i adwokata. Because zostać is used for completed actions, we have to swap the imperfective verb widzieć for its perfective counterpart zobaczyć. The evidence becomes the subject (ten dowód), and the people are introduced by przez.
Why does the passive version use sędziego after przez?
The preposition przez (by) requires the Accusative case. Sędzia has a unique declension that borrows heavily from adjectives; its Accusative form is sędziego, which looks exactly like its Genitive form.
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