"No, he is not a dog."

Translation: Nie, on nie jest psem.

[careyes82]

Would "Nie, on to nie pies." be correct, or am I wrong on the translation? My answer was not accepted.

[Jellei]

In "X is Y" sentences (doesn't matter that Y is negated), if X is a personal pronoun, the only option that works well is X + a form of 'być' + Y in Instrumental.

Your structure would work in many contexts: "Nie, tygrys to nie pies" (No, tiger is not a dog), but not with pronouns.

[terminalnode]

Why can't you say 'Nie, on nie to pies'?

[Jellei]

Someone above asked a very similar question, about "Nie, on to nie pies". I answered:

"In "X is Y" sentences (doesn't matter that Y is negated), if X is a personal pronoun, the only option that works well is X + a form of 'być' + Y in Instrumental.

Your structure would work in many contexts: "Nie, tygrys to nie pies" (No, tiger is not a dog), but not with pronouns."

Now, with your sentence there's another problem - the placement of negation. Even if you could use the "X to Y" construction here, you have to negate Y, and not "to".

For more information you can take a look here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/16373167

It's a lot, but you can take it part by part :) The specific problem here is described in Part 2.

[JordyMuselaers]

i dont have a question but i want to thank you Jellei. everytime i have a question i look here and you always have a comprehensive explenation. you helped me a lot.
ps, sorry for bad english (it's my third language)

[Jellei]

Always happy to help :)

[Jesuis89]

What is the difference between Nie, on nie jest pies and nie, on nie jest psem?

[gabe81]

The first one is incorrect, as in Polish the verb 'być' must be followed by a noun in an Intrumental case.

[anya_mz]

Fun fact as a side note about Polish slang: "pies" is also a derogatory term for a policeman.

[marshruss]

I'm confused about the word order for the second "nie." Why won't "Nie, on jest nie psem" work?

[alik1989]

"Nie" is put before the word you want to negate. If put before the noun, it tends to merge with it, making it (at least to me) sound like he is a not-dog or an anti-dog" which makes him some kind of a really weird fiction character.

Compare:

• Oni nie są ludźmi - They aren't human.

• Oni są nieludźmi - They are inhumans.

[Yola448704]

The natural word order:

it is - jest
it is not - nie jest

Yes, it is a dog - Tak, jest psem
No, it is not a dog - Nie, nie jest psem

The noun "pies" is masculine, so it is referred to as "on",
but it cannot be referred to as he, but rather it in English.

[alik1989]

Dogs can be referred to as he or she, especially if you know their name.

[oldestguru]

[oldestguru]

From the movie Evolution (2001)

[AlNzY5]

Why is sometimes nie before jest and othet times it comes after jest? :(

[Jellei]

https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/28545847 This article has everything that came to my mind that you need to know about negations. But wasn't what you meant a difference between "Adam to nie lekarz" and "Adam nie jest lekarzem"? In the first one, you kinda have an invisible 'jest' anyway: "Adam to nie (jest) lekarz".