Skurczyli

Skurczyli is a Polish verb form meaning they shrank or they reduced, and it is the past tense of the perfective verb skurczyć. It is used to describe a completed action that makes something smaller, shorter, or more limited, such as numbers, budgets, or resources.

Etymology and aspect: Skurczyć is the perfective counterpart to the imperfective kurczyć. The prefix s- added to kurczyć yields a completed, more forceful sense of reduction. As a perfective verb, skurczyć emphasizes the result of the action, whereas kurczyć would describe an ongoing or repeated shrinking.

Grammatical notes: Skurczyli is the masculine personal plural past tense form of skurczyć. The feminine plural form is skurczyły, and other tense forms follow standard Polish conjugation patterns for this verb group. It is transitive, requiring a direct object in most examples, such as a budget, a group of items, or a set of numbers.

Usage: The verb is common in formal writing, journalism, and reports, especially when describing reductions in quantity, size, or scope. Typical objects include budżet (budget), wydatki (expenditures), liczba (the number of), zapasy (supplies), and populacja (population).

Examples:

- Dyrektorzy i kierownicy skurczyli liczbę projektów.

- W kryzysie skurczyli zapasy żywności o połowę.

See also: redukować, ograniczać, zmniejszać.