Breakdown of Gdybyśmy mieli psa pilnującego domu, byłbym spokojny.
być
to be
pies
dog
dom
house
mieć
to have
spokojny
calm
pilnować
to look after
gdyby
if (hypothetical)
Questions & Answers about Gdybyśmy mieli psa pilnującego domu, byłbym spokojny.
Why is the participle pilnującego in this specific form?
It describes psa (dog), which is in the Accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb. The base active participle is pilnujący (guarding). To match a masculine animate noun in the Accusative case, it takes the -ego ending, becoming pilnującego.
How do we form the base participle pilnujący from the verb pilnować?
To form an active adjectival participle, you start with the 3rd person plural (they) form of the present tense. For pilnować (to guard), they guard is pilnują. You drop the final -ą and add the suffix -ący, giving you pilnujący.
Why is the house in the Genitive case (domu) instead of the Accusative case (dom)?
The verb pilnować (to guard or look after) strictly requires its object to be in the Genitive case in Polish. When a verb is turned into a participle like pilnującego, it keeps the exact same grammatical rules, so it still forces dom into the Genitive domu.
Why do the conditional words gdybyśmy and byłbym have different endings?
The first half of the sentence is about what "we" would do, so gdyby takes the 1st person plural ending -śmy (if we). The second half switches to what "I" would do, so the verb być (to be) takes the 1st person singular masculine conditional ending -bym (I would be).
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