"No, he is not a dog."
Translation:Nie, on nie jest psem.
12 Comments
What is the difference between Nie, on nie jest pies and nie, on nie jest psem?
1630
The first one is incorrect, as in Polish the verb 'być' must be followed by a noun in an Intrumental case.
The two ways to say it are 'Nie, on nie jest psem', and 'Nie, on to nie pies'
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.
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)
Would "Nie, on to nie pies." be correct, or am I wrong on the translation? My answer was not accepted.
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.
please explain why in this sentence, for example, we use psem and not pies?
I believe psem is the instrumental case for pies, so its changed to psem instead piesem for some reason,.
Many nouns where the final vowel is "ie" see it dropped in the Instrumental. Chłopiec -> Chłopcem is another.
