"Dziewczynki poszły do kościoła."

Translation: The girls have gone to church.

[Leopold_Bloom]

It is a very Polish thing to do

[JerryMcCarthy99]

Is the definite article in "the church" required? It can be omitted, although it changes the sense of the sentence.

[Jellei]

OK, let's change it then.

[eannaoc]

Is this specifically by foot, like iść/chodzić? Or does perfective work differently?

[Jellei]

It does work like iść/chodzić, but I would add one thing: it's either on foot or unknown/irrelevant.

I mean, if they needed to take a bus, but the bus part really doesn't matter - what matters is that they went to church, then "poszły" is fine. Or you can specify that they went by some vehicle and say "pojechały".

[Carol855282]

How do we know that the verb is feminine?

[JerryMcCarthy99]

Do you mean, why is the verb feminine? If so, simply because "Dziewczynki", the subject of the verb, is feminine.

Or, do you mean, how can I tell that "poszły" is feminine? If you'd like to take a look at https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/p%C3%B3j%C5%9B%C4%87#Polish and expand the conjugation, you'll find that form in the plural non-virile column (as opposed to the male form "poszli", which is in the plural virile column.

HTH

[edB4zK]

Myślę, że to zdanie także byłoby dobrym tłumaczeniem na "the girls have been to church"?

[Kristine466318]

No, you cannot use "have been" here. "Have been" means they went and they are back; "have gone" means they are NOT back, they are still gone/there. And "poszły" means exactly "have gone", nothing more.

[edB4zK]

O, dzięki. Więc może "the girls have been...." byłoby "dziewczynki były..."?

[Kristine466318]

Tak, dokładnie, to byłoby "Dziewczynki były w kościele". Ale to jest zupełnie inne zdanie.

Yes, exactly, it would be "Dziewczynki były w kościele". But it is a completely different sentence. (In this forum we write in English).

[edB4zK]

Ok, great. Thank you :)