"He is not my friend, he is my acquaintance."
Translation:On nie jest moim przyjacielem, on jest moim znajomym.
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Okay, it seems that today a lot of people have problems with negations ;) Well, it's a very common misconception.
The rule is NOT "negation = dopełniacz (Genitive)".
The rule is "negated Accusative = Genitive".
Every other case, when negated, stays the same anyway. As Accusative is very widely used, people see that a lot and start thinking that every negation takes Genitive. But it does not.
This isn't clear to me. Why is a genitive not required, and why do we go to an instrumental?
When "jest" connects two nouns, or a pronoun to a noun, it always takes the instrumental on one side or the other. The only exception is when the subject is "to".
Yes. Technically the grammar is different ([This/That/It] is not...), but "He is not..." is a natural translation. And the Polish sentence sounds pretty natural. So I guess I can add it.
One note: - you have a small typo, it's "przyjaciEl" :)
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It is a slang word so you definitely shouldn't use it in formal situations. ;) But it's pretty popular especially among young people.
It would be a good equivalent of "kolega/przyjaciel".
Why not "On nie jest moim kolegą, on jest moim znajomym"? It doesn't say "he is my best friend".
Well, "best friend" is "najlepszy przyjaciel", so here "najlepszym przyjacielem".
On one hand, you are right. But... your sentence just seems surprising. "kolega" on its own is pretty vague, it may be someone not really important for you, just some guy you know. It just seems strange to make him even less important by saying "znajomy". Just seems not worth saying.
Still... we can't say that it's just wrong. I guess it won't hurt to accept it.
This type of question is not real, it is more like a test in grammar. Fine if you enjoy grammar, but where can we practice it for any who needs practice to build recall? I have no use for it here in Poland, and i would not on the internet. Od czasu do czasu, yes, so the grammar stays. This, no.
Znajomy is technically an adjective which functions as a noun in this sentence. So it has an adjective declension pattern.
I left off the second "on" to avoid the idea that there is a Man #1 who is not my friend and a Man #2 who is my acquaintance. My answer was marked correct, but I'm wondering if I'm overthinking this sentence.
We usually avoid that second "on", true. I think it makes a lot more sense here than usual because the second clause is like 'correcting the wrong impression that was expressed in the first clause'. I hope that makes sense :D
We wouldn't like to have the second "on" in a sentence like "On myśli, że (on) jest mądry" (He thinks that he is smart), that really would sound like "Fred thinks that George is smart".