Breakdown of W szesnastym wieku ta cywilizacja zaczęła używać nowej technologii.
ten
this (m)
nowy
new
w
in / on (a day)
używać
to use
zacząć
to start
szesnasty
sixteenth
wiek
century
cywilizacja
the civilization
technologia
the technology
Questions & Answers about W szesnastym wieku ta cywilizacja zaczęła używać nowej technologii.
Why do we say szesnastym wieku instead of the basic form szesnasty wiek?
To say that something happened in a specific century, Polish uses the preposition w followed by the Locative case. The masculine ordinal number szesnasty (sixteenth) changes to szesnastym, and the noun wiek (century) takes the Locative ending -u to become wieku.
Why is it nowej technologii instead of the Accusative nową technologię?
The verb używać (to use) is an exception to the general rule for direct objects. It strictly requires its object to be in the Genitive case, not the Accusative. Therefore, the feminine phrase nowa technologia changes to the Genitive nowej technologii.
Why does technologii end in a double -ii?
Feminine nouns of foreign origin ending in -ia (like technologia, historia, linia) have special spelling rules in the Genitive case. Because technologia ends in -gia, it drops the -a and adds an -i, resulting in the double -ii ending.
Why does the verb zaczęła end in -ła here?
In the Polish past tense, the verb must agree with the gender of the subject. The subject of this sentence is ta cywilizacja (this civilization), which is a feminine noun. As a result, the third-person singular past tense of zacząć (to start) takes the feminine ending -ła.
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