Breakdown of Dlaczego skurczyłeś mój ulubiony sweter?
mój
my
dlaczego
why
ulubiony
favorite
sweter
jumper, sweater
skurczyć
to shrink
Questions & Answers about Dlaczego skurczyłeś mój ulubiony sweter?
Why isn't there a się after skurczyłeś here?
In Polish, many verbs describing a change of state have two forms depending on whether an action just happens, or someone causes it. If the sweater shrank on its own in the wash, you would use the middle voice with się: Mój ulubiony sweter skurczył się (My favorite sweater shrank). But here, you are accusing someone of actively causing the shrinking, so we use the transitive form without się: skurczyłeś.
Why does mój ulubiony sweter look like it is in the nominative (dictionary) case?
It is actually in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb (the thing being shrunk). However, sweter is a masculine inanimate noun. For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative case form is identical to the nominative case.
Is skurczyłeś perfective or imperfective?
It is perfective. Adding the prefix s- to the imperfective verb kurczyć (to be shrinking something) makes it the perfective skurczyć (to shrink something completely). The speaker is asking about a completed past action with a very visible, unfortunate result.
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