Breakdown of Oba zespoły stały blisko siatki.
blisko
close
stać
to stand
zespół
team / band (music group)
oba
both (m/n)
siatka
net
Questions & Answers about Oba zespoły stały blisko siatki.
Why do we use oba here instead of obie or oboje?
The form of the word for "both" has to match the grammatical gender of the noun. We use oba for masculine inanimate nouns (like zespoły, plural of zespół) as well as for neuter nouns. If the noun were feminine, we would use obie, and if it referred to a mixed-gender group of people, we would use oboje.
Could I use the word drużyny (teams) instead of zespoły in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! Drużyna is another very common word for a sports team. Just remember that drużyna is a feminine noun. So if you swap it into this sentence, you must also change the numeral to match the feminine gender: obie drużyny stały blisko siatki.
Why is the verb stały and not stali? Don't sports teams consist of people?
Even though a team is made up of people, grammatical agreement relies strictly on the noun's gender. The word zespół is masculine inanimate, not masculine personal. Because it isn't a masculine personal noun, the plural verb takes the non-masculine-personal ending -ły, giving us stały.
Why is the word for net (siatka) written here as siatki?
It is in the genitive case. The word blisko (meaning "close to" or "near") always requires the noun following it to take the genitive case. Since siatka is a feminine noun ending in -a, it changes to siatki.
Learn Oba zespoły stały blisko siatki and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free