"Ten sok nie jest kawą."

Translation: This juice is not coffee.

[EvaWoodruff]

the sentence is correct without an article

[GiacomoBia16]

Some issue. Could I translate it as "this juice is not a coffee"?

[Jellei]

Makes sense to me, added.

[Elias.M.A]

Is "kawą" in genitive form?

[Jellei]

No, it's Instrumental. Genitive is "kawy".

[Matthew_Phelps]

• Jestem człowiekiem.
• Nie jesteś człowiekiem. ale...
• Nie wiem tego człowieka. ... to prawda czy nie? it's negation for direct objects not subject complements

[Jellei]

Well, negation makes the noun phrase use Genitive only if it was in Accusative before the negation. Well, or if it was in Genitive already ;)

You can't say "Nie wiem tego człowieka". You use "wiedzieć" in sentences like "I know about X" or "I know, that X..." - here you need "znać". "Nie znam tego człowieka".

Oh, "to prawda?" is rather not what you meant here. That means "Is that truth/Is that true", not "is that right".

[DanielCass950551]

Why can't I say "This is juice not coffee"

[Jellei]

Because it translates to "To jest sok, [a/] nie kawa".

Which is actually a more probable sentence to utter... but it's not what we have here in this exercise.

[Larry11215]

so być takes the instrumental case even in the negative?

[alik1989]

Yes, only accusative turns to genitive when negated.

[Wippii]

Jakie dziwne zdanie!

"Ten sok jest pomarańczowy... może to kawa. Kawa może być pomarańczowa, prawda?"

[alik1989]

Zdanie jest w porządku. Są soki wyciskane z gatunków owoców o ciemnym zabarwieniu, które, patrząc na nie z pewnej odległości, można łatwo pomylić z kawą.

[Celioluzverde]

However "coffee" is not a juice and will never be a kind of juice ... (as is presupposed by the translation "This juice is not coffee").
Could "this juice" be "coffee"? Never! (because coffee is coffee and juice is juice).
Then, "This juice is not coffee" is a truism.

[JanKLinde]

Well, in Germany beer is sometimes called "Gerstensaft" (barley juice). So maybe Poles consider coffee as a kind of juice...