"Dlaczego panowie nie piją?"
Translation:Why are you not drinking?
45 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Can this also be "why are the gentlemen not drinking?" As in a situation where you are talking to another person at a dinner party and observing their behaviour or something (or would that only work with a determiner?).
If you wanted to specifically single out all men from a very general group (and contrast it with ladies, who might do the contrary), then you could say so (again, better not to use that if you are saying this to men, or else they might misunderstand it as reffering to them).
In many contexts "tamci panowie" should work better (you might have a specific group in mind, not all of the men at the party, for example). And if you are not in a formal situation yourselves, you might simply use "oni".
So would you need to specify "those" gentlemen, with "tamci panowie" even if they are the only gentlemen present?
If you are talking about them, not 'to them', you would need to specify. Unless maybe if you were talking to 'the ladies' about 'the gentlemen', then it should be clear. If there was a clear division and it would seem obvious.
If they are the only gentlemen in the room,
the word gentlemen is... specific enough:
Panie (one) piją, a panowie (oni) nie piją -
Ladies (they) drink, gentlemen (they) do not
In polish we express the respect during addressing somebody by using the third person (they\he\she instead you) but it should be translated as you by default.
When formally addressing somebody with the use pan, pani, panowie, etc., we use the third person.
My problem is with the English translation. "Guys" is offered as one of the possible answers, and it is way the wrong register for "panowie" -- much too informal. It would mean that "panowie" is being used ironically rather than respectfully.
That is due to a number of users 'fighting' for the options of 'you all' and 'you guys' as plural you. But you're right, in terms of register it really looks weird, so I deleted those options from this sentence.
Having said that, there is of course an option that the sentence is ironic, there is no context.
The thing with formal, plural 'you' is that there is also the semi-formal option: using panie/panowie/państwo not with 3rd person plural, but with 2nd person plural. Some people deem that incorrect (as it mixed formal and informal words), but it's definitely in usage. If it was "panowie nie pijecie", I think that would strengthen the possibility of the sentence being ironic.
Using the semi-formal option for singular, like "pan pijesz", really looks rather sarcastic.
I'm not sure why you expect students to glean that the formal you requires the use of third-person verb forms. This should be taught before the lesson.
I think this would be a suggestion that they should drink, and not a question about why they aren't.
Either that, or a question about why they never drink (you have seen them multiple times before, not drinking).
I think he was asking whether this can refer to "habitually" as well as "right now"
As with 99% of Polish verbs, it can refer to both. It's accepted, actually.
Hey, on a separate note.... Can panowie ever be the object of a verb? (I think it can, cos I have seen "they do not respect you (formal)")
Cos I was just wondering what has stopped us thinking that this sentence is not "why are they not drinking the men"
(Apart from it being a weird sentence)
What stops it? Is it the fact that panowie is not accusative?
Yeah, it's "the fact that panowie is not accusative". Putting how absurd the meaning is, "Dlaczego panów* nie piją?" is a grammatically correct sentence meaning "Why don't they drink you, gentlemen?". We could put oni/one in there, but usually the subject is known from the context.
*That's Genitive due to negation, of course.
Putting it right after "dlaczego" is fine, it's not the beginning anymore. For a more logical sentence, "Dlaczego mnie nie lubisz?" (Why don't you like me?) is the most natural word order.
In Polish, the grammatical case signifies the purpose of the word within the sentence (if it is the subject, the object, etc.). There are however rare situations where it's impossible to tell from the sentence alone.
For example, in "Autobus wyprzedził motocykl". In situations like these, it's best to think of a way to rephrase the sentence (here you could use the passive voice or add the word "kierowca").
Or maybe cos the object pronoun never goes at the beginning anyway (ignoring dlaczego)
Shouldn't "why aren't you drinking" be accepted as the correct translation?
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Note for the learners: I find this answer a bit confusing as a Polish native speaker. 'Dlaczego panowie nie piją' translates literally into 'Why do not the gentlemen drink?' and Duo doesn't accept it for some reason. Suggeted answer is 'Why don't you drink' which does make sense in Polish if you are being polite, but is not really an accurate translation, which is what the exercise asks for.
"Why do not the gentlemen drink?" is ungrammatical - it should be "Why do the gentlemen not drink?", despite the fact that the contraction "Why don't the gentlemen drink?" would be fine.
Well, as another Polish native speaker I'd say that normally 'panowie' without any further description (ci panowie, wysocy panowie etc.) can only be Formal You. I can agree that in this sentence it can be 'the gentlemen' (I am 'a lady', drinking with other ladies, and our husbands = the gentlemen are not drinking). So ok, added such an interpretation.
But I believe that "Why do not the gentlemen drink?" is not the best way to put it in English. Negative questions are a nightmare to me, but this link (https://www.englishgrammar.org/negative-questions/) shows different solutions.
'Why do you gentlemen not drink?' seems to me to be a perfectly fine English translation!
I translated "panowie" as "you gentlemen." Isn't "panowie" masc. pl. you? If so, my answer should be correct.
A very slight quibble, given that the new, beautifully clear TTS voices are generally far superior to their predecessors:
Normal-speed TTSia (which I hear in the exercise and at the top of this page) clearly says
"Dylaczego panowie nie piją?"
I've heard Dylaczego … (same voice & speed) in at least one other exercise, too:
EDIT 15.11.2020 18:12
e.g. (normal speed)
"Dylaczego chcesz z nami pracować?"
The slow version is fine, however.
I don't know... it's hard for me to say that I absolutely don't know what you're talking about, but it's so slight that it seems to me that I only hear it because I expect to hear some problem.
- 865
It says that Dlaczwgo panowie nie piją - translates into: They wil be back in 1 hour ;-)
Everything looks correct on our side... if you see this issue again, please provide a screenshot.
- 865
It did it again, and I tried to upload a screenshot from my phone, but the abb wouldn't let me
Unfortunately there's no way to upload a screenshot directly from the app, you need to upload it to an image hosting website first and then paste the link in the comment.
Although now that I think about it... isn't "They will be back in one hour" a message that you're shown after you click "I cannot listen now"? You know, when you can't use listening exercises...
The tips said panowie was the male plural nominative form. How about adding panowie to this translation,then?
"Panowie" is part of this very exercise. What exactly do you want us to add and where should we add it?
Well, we could try with "Why aren't you drinking, gentlemen?" but that's probably not very likely.
what would be the formal way of saying "Why are you (ladies) not drinking?" - Dlaczego panie nie piją?" "Why are you (ladies) drinking?" - Dlaczego panie piją?" I feel like I am missing something. Thanks