Breakdown of Kto wynalazł tę technologię w dwudziestym pierwszym wieku?
ten
this (m)
kto
who
w
in / on (a day)
pierwszy
first
Questions & Answers about Kto wynalazł tę technologię w dwudziestym pierwszym wieku?
Why are both parts of the number in the Locative case in w dwudziestym pierwszym wieku?
When expressing time in a specific century, Polish uses the preposition w followed by the Locative case. For compound ordinal numbers like twenty-first, both parts must decline to match the noun. Since wiek is masculine, the basic form dwudziesty pierwszy changes to dwudziestym pierwszym.
Why does the Locative form of wiek end in -u instead of the usual -e?
Masculine nouns typically take -e in the Locative, but nouns ending in velar consonants like k, g, or ch are exceptions. They take -u to avoid difficult pronunciation changes, which is why wiek becomes wieku.
Why does the verb wynalazł use a masculine ending when we do not know who the inventor is?
The question word kto is always treated as grammatically masculine singular. Whenever kto is the subject of a past tense sentence, the verb must take the masculine third-person singular form. The infinitive of this verb is wynaleźć.
Why is the phrase tę technologię used instead of tą technologię?