Breakdown of Czy wiesz, kto wymyślił ten powszechny mit?
czy
[question particle]
ten
this (m)
kto
who
wiedzieć
to know
powszechny
widespread
mit
myth
wymyślić
to make up
Questions & Answers about Czy wiesz, kto wymyślił ten powszechny mit?
Why do we use wiesz here instead of znasz?
Polish has two verbs for "to know". Znać means to be familiar with a person, place, or noun. Wiedzieć means to know a fact or piece of information, and it is the verb you must use before question words like kto (who), co (what), or a conjunction like że (that).
Why doesn't ten powszechny mit change its ending even though it is the direct object of the sentence?
It is actually in the accusative case, which is required for direct objects. However, because mit (myth) is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its basic nominative dictionary form.
Why is the perfective verb wymyślił used here instead of an imperfective form?
Wymyślić is perfective. We use it here because the sentence focuses on a single, completed action in the past: the specific event of someone successfully inventing this myth. The imperfective wymyślał would mean "was making up" or "used to make up" over a period of time.
Why is there a comma before kto?
In Polish, you must almost always put a comma before a subordinate clause. Whenever a sentence introduces a new clause with a question word like kto (who), co (what), or a conjunction like że (that), a comma is strictly required.
Learn Czy wiesz, kto wymyślił ten powszechny mit 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