Breakdown of Ten zepsuty telewizor jest już zwrócony do sklepu.
być
to be
ten
this (m)
sklep
shop
telewizor
TV set
do
to
już
already / anymore (with negation)
zepsuty
broken
zwrócić
to return (give something back)
Questions & Answers about Ten zepsuty telewizor jest już zwrócony do sklepu.
We have both zepsuty and zwrócony here. Are they both verbs or adjectives?
They are both passive participles, which means they are formed from verbs (zepsuć - to break, zwrócić - to return) but act like adjectives. Zepsuty describes the TV directly, while zwrócony works with the verb jest to form the stative passive voice, showing the TV's current state.
Since the TV was returned in the past, why do we use jest (is) instead of a past tense verb?
This sentence uses the stative passive voice. We use the verb być (to be) plus a passive participle to focus on the current result of a completed action. The TV's current state is that it is returned. If we wanted to focus on the actual event of someone returning it, we would use the dynamic passive with zostać: telewizor został zwrócony (the TV got returned).
Why do zwrócony and zepsuty both end in -y?
Because they both must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe. Telewizor is a masculine inanimate noun in the nominative case, so both participles take the standard masculine nominative ending -y.
Why do we use do sklepu instead of a locative case like w sklepie (in the store)?
Even though the TV is currently sitting in the store, the participle zwrócony comes from the verb zwrócić (to return), which implies the transfer of an object to a destination. Because of this directionality, Polish uses the preposition do (to) followed by the genitive case (sklepu).
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