"Prawnik nie ma sekretarki."

Translation: The lawyer does not have a secretary.

[stephenpeckhover]

Why was my use of "lawyer" wrong: "The lawyer has no secretary"?

This seems a little nutty.

[vytah]

It looks fine, you should have reported it.

[stephenpeckhover]

Yes I did. Sorry to add some clutter. I was really just puzzled by "...has no secretary" being marked wrong. I thought it was proper grammar.

[RickPohlsa]

Is there a difference in Poland between an attorney and a lawyer? In the U.S., those terms are synonymous.

[Okcydent]

There are several terms in Polish that are connected to law:

• prawnik - a term used to describe a person with formal education in law
• adwokat (sometimes obrońca) - one who can give legal advices, opinions, can represent his client in a court
• radca prawny (legal counsel , legal counsellor, maybe solicitor) - very, very similar to adwokat

Please remember that these professions are regulated by Polish law and are different than those in the USA.

[Arnoldpitt]

In England the lowest range of lawyers (and therefore the one most likely to be without a secretary are called solicitors. I know solicitor has a completely different meaning in America

[Jellei]

Added "solicitor". And "barrister".

[deactivated user]

"Prawnik" is a wide term for all kinds of lawyers in Poland. More specificly, there are "sędzia" (judge), "adwokat" (barrister), "radca prawny" (legal advisor), "notariusz" (notary/solicitor), "prokurator" (prosecutor), "komornik" (debt collector). Plus, you also call a person a lawyer when they get their master degree in law studies. :)

[Pam833405]

So what about attorney?

[Jellei]

That one also works, it has been added way before "solicitor" and "barrister" :)

[gaberak100]

Just out of interest, say the lawyer had a male secretary but no female secretary, would it still be correct to say "Prawnik nie ma sekretarki" given it's the female form of secretary?

[Jellei]

In that situation the Polish sentence would be factually correct, but pretty surprising. Unless you say "Prawnik nie ma sekretarki, ale ma sekretarza" (The lawyer doesn't have a female secretary, but he has a male secretary).

[DavidLindon]

Why is it not Prawnik nie ma sekretarky in the genetive case? Like Prawnik nie ma zony

[Jellei]

It is Genitive. But it's -i at the end, not -y.

[Ndzdz]

You can never have a Y after the letters K or G, that's why it's an I instead

[ShitanshuS3]

My dad really doesn't have :...D

[ilinniartoq]

Would a male secretary be "sekretar"?

[chce_polski]

Sekretarz

[Emily_Cz]

Kept marking me wrong due to a typo of dies vs does.

[Jellei]

Sure thing, we will!

But seriously, we don't control which typos get accepted and which get rejected.

[Emily_Cz]

That's fine, just wanted to point it out!