Breakdown of Odkąd zmienił nawyki, je bardzo zdrowo.
bardzo
very
jeść
to eat
zdrowy
healthy
zmienić
to change
odkąd
since
nawyk
the habit
Questions & Answers about Odkąd zmienił nawyki, je bardzo zdrowo.
Why do we use the past tense in the first part (zmienił) and the present tense in the second part (je)?
The conjunction odkąd means "since" referring to time. The action of changing habits was a one-time event completed in the past, so we use the past perfective verb zmienił. The result is an ongoing habit today, so the second clause uses the present tense verb je.
Can I use odkąd to mean "since" in the sense of "because", like in English?
No, you cannot. In English, "since" can refer to time or give a reason. In Polish, odkąd is strictly related to time (from the moment that). If you want to express a reason, you must use words like ponieważ or skoro.
Why isn't the pronoun on used before the verbs here?
Polish frequently drops subject pronouns because the verb itself shows who is performing the action. Both zmienił (he changed) and je (he eats) are conjugated for a third-person singular subject. Since the context implies the same person does both, adding on is completely optional and usually left out.
What case is the word nawyki?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb zmienił. The singular form is nawyk, which is an inanimate masculine noun. For these types of nouns, the accusative plural is identical to the nominative plural.
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