Breakdown of Oni badają kryształy, szukając węgla.
oni
they (masculine personal)
szukać
to look for
badać
to research / to study (investigate, examine)
kryształ
crystal
węgiel
coal
Questions & Answers about Oni badają kryształy, szukając węgla.
What kind of word is szukając?
This is a present adverbial participle. You form it by adding -ąc to an imperfective verb stem. It translates to an English "-ing" word (like "looking") and is used to show that the subject (oni) is doing this secondary action at the exact same time as the main verb (badają).
Why is the word for coal in the Genitive case (węgla) instead of the Accusative?
In Polish, certain verbs dictate the case of the noun that follows them (verb government). While a direct object is normally in the Accusative, the verb szukać (to look for) is a strict exception that always requires the Genitive case. Because szukając is a form of szukać, it follows this exact same rule.
Why does the word węgiel change to węgla? What happened to the "e"?
The noun węgiel (coal or carbon) has a "fleeting e". This is a common pattern in Polish where the final "e" in a noun's stem disappears when a grammatical ending is added. That is why the Genitive form becomes węgla rather than "węgiela".
Why isn't kryształy also in the Genitive case?
Unlike szukać, the main verb badać (to examine) takes a standard direct object in the Accusative case. Kryształ is an inanimate masculine noun, and for those nouns in the plural, the Accusative form is identical to the Nominative form (kryształy).
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