"Potrzebujecie kawy?"
Translation:Do you need coffee?
23 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Why does the verb potrzebować take the genitive form noun and not the accusative?
Using the Accusative (Biernik) potrzebować is technically incorrect. The proper way of speaking would be to use the Genitive (Dopełniacz) always. Another way to think about it is that "Potrzebuję tego" is "I'm in need of this" rather than "I need this". That said, this is actually a point of contention with Polish speakers and it is becoming a trend to use biernik instead of dopełniacz in more informal situations.
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/intransitive-verbs-made-transitive.2023573/
So does this mean that I'll sound weird or old-fashioned if I use genitive with potrzebować?
If I'll ever get to the stage where I'm able to speak Polish to a native that is... ;)
Think about this: Why would we teach grammar that makes you sound weird and old-fashioned?
Well, if it's becoming something of a trend to use a different case than what's taught here, that might be the case, mightn't it?
I think you might have misunderstood what was meant by 'trend'. It's not that it became 'trendy', but it's meant in the sense of 'there is a tendency'.
Acknowlegding the existence of such a tendency says nothing about its magnitude. Therefore, you can't logically conclude that using the genitive case with potrzebować will make you sound weird or old-fashioned. As of 2020, it definitely won't.
825
Woops German 'ja' there xD I get confused with that ja and with "tak" in Danish which means thanks. xD
Thanks for the corrections :)
If you want to be confused more, AFAIK in Silesian dialect/language ja means both yes, and I.
- 2768
Tangentially, "aye" (though somewhat archaic) is a homophone of "I" and means "yes". So at least in speaking, you can generate the same confusion in English.
