Learn how to say "no" in Polish
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Intro |
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| Michael: How do you say "no" in Polish? |
| Igor: And what is a double negative? |
| Michael: At PolishPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Damian Dąbrowski, a high school student, has just returned home. Upon seeing him, his father asks, |
| "Did you meet with your friends?" |
| Dariusz Dąbrowska: Spotkałeś się przyjaciółmi? |
| Dialogue |
| Dariusz Dąbrowska: Spotkałeś się przyjaciółmi? |
| Damian Dąbrowski: Nie, nie spotkałem się. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Dariusz Dąbrowska: Spotkałeś się przyjaciółmi? |
| Michael: "Did you meet with your friends?" |
| Damian Dąbrowski: Nie, nie spotkałem się. |
| Michael: "No, I didn't meet [with them]." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn how to say "no" in Polish and what the "double negative" is. |
| Michael: First, let's review how to make a simple negative sentence. In Polish, you make a negative sentence by adding the word |
| Igor: nie |
| Michael: meaning "not" before the verb. For example, |
| Igor: Maria nie je, |
| Micheal: which means "Maria doesn't eat." Here, the word |
| Igor: nie |
| Michael: precedes the verb "to eat" conjugated in the singular, or |
| Igor: je. |
| Michael: Let's hear it once more |
| Igor: [SLOW] Maria nie je. [NORMAL] Maria nie je. |
| Michael: If you are answering a yes-or-no question, similarly to English, you just have to add the negation particle |
| Igor: nie |
| Michael: at the beginning of the sentence. For example, if you are asked "Does Maria eat?" or |
| Igor: Czy Maria je? |
| Michael: you should answer as |
| Igor: Nie, Maria nie je. [SLOW] Nie, Maria nie je. |
| Michael: meaning "No, Maria doesn't eat." Now, let's talk about double negation. |
| In English, you are not allowed to use two negatives in the same negative sentence. For example, if you've been kept in the dark about something and you're asked about it, you can't say "I don't know nothing." You have to say "I don't know anything." |
| This rule doesn't apply to Polish, where two or more negatives in the same sentence are possible and intensify the negation. Polish is a negative concord language, meaning that two negatives, unlike English, don't make a positive. |
| Now, let's talk about the "double negative" or |
| Igor: podwójne przeczenie. |
| Michael: As we said, unlike English, in Polish, you can have other negation words following the main negation. In fact, to create a sentence with words such as "nothing," "nobody," or "never," you need to use them together with the simple negation that we have already talked about. Let's see some of these negation words. The first is |
| Igor: nic, |
| Michael: which means "nothing." Let's hear a sample sentence: |
| Igor: Maria nic nie je. |
| Michael: literally translated as "Maria nothing doesn't eat." and meaning "Maria doesn't eat anything." Polish word order is relatively flexible and allows for moving the negative pronoun "nothing" |
| Igor: nic |
| Michael: around, but the most neutral and natural word order is: Subject |
| Igor: Maria, |
| Michael: the negative pronoun "nothing" |
| Igor: nic, |
| Michael: and the simple verb negation "doesn't eat" |
| Igor: nie je. [SLOW] Maria nic nie je. [NORMAL] Maria nic nie je. |
| Michael: Pronouns such as "nothing" or "nobody" need to be declined in the proper case—for example, in the sentence "He doesn't want anything," or literally "He nothing doesn't want," |
| Igor: On niczego nie chce. |
| Michael: The negative pronoun "nothing" needs to be declined in the Genitive case, and changes its form from |
| Igor: nic |
| Michael: to |
| Igor: niczego. On niczego nie chce. [SLOW] On niczego nie chce. |
| Michael: This is something you will learn with practice and time—for now, just keep in mind that you might need to alter the words "nothing" and "nobody" when using it in double negation. Next is |
| Igor: nigdy |
| Michael: meaning "never." Here is a sample sentence: |
| Igor: Marek nigdy nie gotuje. |
| Michael: This literally means "Marek never doesn't cook" and, in correct English, "Marek never cooks." The same rule applies: The subject is followed by the adverb "never," and by the simple verb negation. |
| Igor: [SLOW] Marek nigdy nie gotuje. [NORMAL] Marek nigdy nie gotuje. |
| Michael: Next is |
| Igor: nigdzie |
| Michael: or "nowhere" Here is a sample sentence: |
| Igor: Nigdzie nie idę. |
| Michael: This literally means, "Nowhere am not going," meaning "I am not going anywhere." Here, we usually drop the subject "I," and start the sentence with the word "nowhere." Then, simple verb negation follows as usual: |
| Igor: [SLOW] Nigdzie nie idę. [NORMAL] Nigdzie nie idę. |
| [Recall] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Damian says, "No, I didn't meet anyone?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Igor: Nie, nie spotkałem się. |
| Michael: This literally means "No, I didn't meet [with them]." You can see the main negation word |
| Igor: nie |
| Michael: meaning "not," followed a verb conjugated appropriately. This example illustrates the simple verb negation. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned how to make a negative sentence in Polish, and how the "double negative" works. In Polish, two or more negative words in the same sentence don't make a positive, but create the negation. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: In Polish, there isn't only double negation, but also triple negation is possible. It is used to emphasize the negation. Let's imagine that you want to say "I've never hit any animal!" |
| Igor: Nigdy nie uderzyłem żadnego zwierzęcia! |
| Michael: This means "I have never hit any animal!." The literal translation would be "Never I didn't hit no animal!." Can you spot all the negations? |
| Igor: [SLOWLY] Nigdy nie uderzyłem żadnego zwierzęcia! |
| Michael: The sentence starts with the adverb "never," |
| Igor: nigdy, |
| Michael: and it's followed by the simple verb negation "didn't hit" conjugated in the first-person singular |
| Igor: nie uderzyłem |
| Michael: followed by the negative adjectival pronoun "no" or "none" |
| Igor: żadnego |
| Michael: in the genitive case. This triple negation is easier to understand than it sounds: it carries the same meaning as the simple negation in the English translation. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Igor: Do usłyszenia! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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