Breakdown of On zrobił to z pamięci.
to
this
on
he / it (m)
zrobić
to do / to make (someone something)
z
from (+ Genitive)
pamięć
memory
Questions & Answers about On zrobił to z pamięci.
Why does pamięć become pamięci in this sentence?
The preposition z when it means "from" takes the Genitive case. pamięć (memory) belongs to a special group of feminine nouns ending in a consonant. To form the Genitive for feminine nouns ending in a soft consonant like -ć, we add -i. The spelling rule changes ć + i into ci, giving us pamięci.
Wait, aren't nouns ending in a consonant supposed to be masculine?
Most are, but there is an important group of feminine nouns that end in consonants. Nouns ending in soft sounds like -ć, -ś, or -ń are often feminine. Abstract concepts ending in -ć or -ść, such as pamięć (memory) and miłość (love), are almost always feminine and follow their own declension rules.
Doesn't the preposition z usually mean "with" and take the Instrumental case?
It does when it means "with". However, z is also used to mean "from" or "out of". Whenever z means "from", it forces the following noun into the Genitive case. Because this sentence means "from memory", we use the Genitive case for pamięć.
Why use the perfective verb zrobił instead of the imperfective robił here?
zrobił shows that the action was a single, completed event: he successfully finished doing it from memory. If you used the imperfective robił, it would translate to he "was doing it" from memory, focusing on the ongoing process in the past rather than the final completed result.
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