"Do you need this man?"
Translation:Potrzebujesz tego mężczyzny?
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The verb "potrzebowac" is used very differently from the verb "to need":
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It is considered an error to follow "potrzebować" with another VERB
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It takes genitive (Dopełniacz) when it refers to nouns as life necessities
like "woda" (water), "powietrze" (air), "szczęście" (happiness), "(s)pokój" (peace), "radość" (joy), "Bóg" (God), "żywność" (food), "pieniądze" (money).
In this sense the verb "potrzebować" (to need) also means "pragnąć". -
As it comes to any nonessential, common, everyday "need", "it is needed", that is the phrase in passive voice is used, where the noun, "it", the subject of the phrase, is in nominative. That is why even native Polish speakers have a problem with the use of genitive and this verb... Most of the time they do not even use the active form of the verb with the common items like "koszula" (shirt), "młotek" (hammer) or "człowiek" (a man, NOT God):
I need some water/money - Potrzebuję (czego?) wody/pieniędzy (genitive)
I need a shirt/a hammer/a man/a lawyer/you - Potrzebna mi (kto? co?) koszula/ Potrzebny mi (jest) młotek/ Potrzebny mi (kto? co?) człowiek/ Potrzebny mi (jest) adwokat/Jesteś mi potrzebny (kto? - ty) (nominative)
The question "Potrzebujesz tego mężczyzny?" sounds awkward in Polish.
Do you need this man? - Potrzebny ci ten mężczyzna?