"Do not take this, take something else."

Translation: Nie bierz tego, weź coś innego.

[NordicMand]

Why are two different verbs used when the same verb is being conveyed in this sentence? bierz and wez

[Jellei]

In imperative, the negative sentences almost always use an imperfective verb ('don't do it at all'), while the positive ones use a perfective one (do it succesfully and completely). That's why it looks like that.

[Rogier]

I didn't believe this at first, but my Polish wife definitely agrees.

[edenblossom]

Yeah, why trust the native...

[Vengir]

This is an example of two irregular verbs (there aren't actually that many of them). „Brać” is the imperfective verb, but its perfective equivalent is „wziąć”. They also have some exceptions in conjugation.

For a full list of irregular verbs see https://pl.wiktionary.org/wiki/Aneks:J%C4%99zyk_polski_-_czasowniki_nieregularne

[mvinicius563]

why do I have to use a different verb on the second part of the sentence? (bierz x wez)

[Arnoldpitt]

You have excelled yourselves . =You have the same word twice in the same sentence and completely different translations

[Jellei]

Yes, this is a good example to show how it works: you have an imperfective one in the negative clause (do not do it at all), and a perfective one in the positive clause (do it once, 'succesfully').

[jumbo420]

Nice rhyme