"I do not know them."
Translation:Nie znam ich.
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Is it possible to say, "Nie znam je," when referring to feminine or neuter nouns?
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I put the same thing, but think it is incorrect, because the negation requires genitive case, and I just read that the genitive of "je" is "ich"
It depends on the gender of the group you are referring to. If it corresponds to "oni" (all-masculine group), then the Accusative and Genitive form of the pronoun is identical, "ich". However, the change is overt only in a not-entirely-masculine (as I like to call it) group, where you would use "je" in Accusative and "ich", again, in Genitive. So, since the sentence is negated and Genitive is used, we cannot specify whether the group that is spoken about is all-masculine or not-entirely-masculine.
Yes, but the meaning is different.
'Nie ich znam' - 'It's not them, whom I know' = I know someone, but they are not that someone
"je" could be used in a declarative sentence. It could be "Znam je" (when 'them' consists of women only) or "Znam ich" (when there is at least one man among 'them'). Both "je" and "ich" are Accusative.
But as it's negated here, and negated Accusative turns into Genitive (the only case which changes when negated), it has to be "Znam ich" because "ich" is the only option in Genitive, used for both plurals.
Znać and wiedzieć are not interchangeable. Here's more info:
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/25535826
Furthermore, the sentence is negated, therefore the direct object requires genitive. And the genitive of "je" is "ich".
thats the magic of different languages. an entire sentence of 10 words in one language can be 3-4 words in another language
I like how all the words look the same, even after a long time. For example, prz in this word, prz in that word, and so on.
Then to spell them correctly, I say them in English, as to say them in Polish, you would not know how to spell them.
Then there is the fact that the same order of words sounds completely different in different words, and then that some letters don't get pronounced. Also interesting is how they run together whole words if the vowels and consonants make it easy to run together.
I wonder when my ear will make sense of all this? I wonder what Polish Scrabble looks like?
Ehm... maybe devoicing could make sounds a bit different, but generally Polish is consistent in pronunciation...
And as for letters that don't get pronounced, that's almost not-existent in Polish. Unless you think this way of digraphs.
In all those consonants all get pronounced? There are silent r's and other consonants as well. You say they aren't. Well, my hearing is not that great. Hm. My jury is still out. ;-)
The only words that actually do have silent letters (or rather - exact pronunciation may be consider overcorrectness) that come to my mind are: "jabłko" (more like 'japko') and pięćdziesiąt/sześćdziesiąt/dziewięćdziesiąt, from which "ć" usually vanishes.
I believe all others are either that you don't immediately think of a digraph as one sound, or, well, not being accustomed to the Polish sounds. Also the TTS is shite ;)
Why not "Nie ja znam ich?" I thought that "znam" means I know, so it would be "ja znam." Right?
don't separate "nie" and the verb unless you now what you are doing - it changes the meaning.
"ja nie znam ich" is what you wanted to say, but "ja ich nie znam" would be more likely word order - emphisises "I"
Nie, ja ich znam = means "No, I know them"
Nie ja ich znam = means someone else knows them not you
Ja nie ich znam = means you know someone else, not them.
Two important rules - don't separate nie+verb, and don't leave ich at the end if possible..
That would sound really strange. As if you were saying that it is "not you who knows them, but your sister that knows them."
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Hi! I answered with "nie znam nich". Nich is the genitive form of Oni, right ? so shouldn't both ich and nich be accepted? thanks in advance
It is Genitive, yes. However, when a pronoun has more than one possible form, then the n- form only works after a preposition.
What I mean is, that for example "nich" is also a Locative plural form, but it's the only possibility there, so it works in any Locative context. But for Genitive plural, there's "ich" and "nich", and therefore "nich" only works after a preposition.
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Thank you for the explanation! Does it mean that in this sentence, "Nie znam ich" , since we can't have "nich", we ich could be understood as the Genitive of both oni and one? Thanks!
Yes, it works for both plurals. Actually only Nominative (oni/one) and Accusative (ich/je) have different variants for them.
Confused! (As usual) i just did czy ci mężczyźni je znają. "For know them" so why on earth can't i also know them with je znam?
At this speed I'll be able to speak this language in about 50 years! It's all over the place with every word being different in every sentence. Ugh!
Does this table answer your question?
Well, that was a question, and here you have a negative sentence, so that's the difference.
I know I'm late but in case it helps:
since this sentence has the verb "znam" which takes accusative and is negated, then the pronoun needs to be in genetive. In the tips and notes there is a table: / English. / acc. / gen. / / they/them. / ich. / ich. / / they/them. / je / ich /
You should write if "them" is intended as feminine or masculine... polish "ich" or "je"
We don't have a technical way to do that, which means that you are free to choose, both are considered equally correct. In general.
Although actually this isn't applicable to this particular sentence, because given the negation (negated Accusative), the word "them" should take Genitive, which for both plurals is "ich". The sentence is identical regardless of whether we're talking about men or women.
"nie znacie" is 2nd person plural, "Ja ich nie znacie" makes no sense. I assume you meant "Ja ich nie znam", and then yes, this means the same as "Nie znam ich" and we accept that.
English almost doesn't have cases, but there are some remnants, so actually it can be easiest to say that "mnie" means "me", and not "I".
Also: a pronoun like "ich" shouldn't be placed at the end of the sentence if it's possible to avoid it; and "zna" is the 3rd person singular form: "he/she/it knows", you need 1st person singular "znam".