- Forum >
- Topic: Polish >
- "We do not know you."
"We do not know you."
Translation:Nie znamy was.
27 Comments
It could be "Nie ciebie znamy", but that sentence have a slightly different meaning(literally: We know not you) and just begs for an ending of "tylko kogoś innego"…
Good advice until B2/C1 level - do not separate "nie" from verb, because that usually ends up negating something else than verb instead. ;-)
That said, "Nie znamy ciebie/cię", "Ciebie nie znamy" should be accepted, since English you is both plural and singular.
hello. I wrote "nie was znamy" believing I was writing "we do not know you (plural). I think I made a lot of errors... Could anyone please correct me if you have the time to?
That sentence could be correct in some a bit surprising contexts, but it basically means "It is not you (plural) that we know, we know someone else". So it's rather not a very probable phrase to say by a native...
Because, unfortunately, not much attention has been paid to teaching and adding 'formal You' options. So usually, they are not accepted, I'm afraid - unless someone asks to. Obviously those are correct, so added now.
Excuse me michał, can "cię " and "ciebie" be used interchangeably in this context?
cię and ciebie are always interchangeable (in meaning), it only depends on it's place in the sentence. Nie znamy cię/ciebie- both are correct, as it's not accented position. Ciebie nie znamy - it is accented position, you cannot use "cię"
It's accented because it's the first word? So that's why 'My cię nie znamy' is accepted
Yes, putting the object pronoun at the beginning is a very strong accent, and "cię" just can't work here. "Ciebie nie znamy" is a correct sentence, but it's like "We know him, we know her, but you... you we do not know!". It's rare.
It's technically correct, but it's so rarely correct that I don't know if it makes sense to accept it and make people think it's a natural sentence.
Putting "Ciebie" at the beginning gives a strong emphasis on it, so it works as in "OK, we know him, we know her... you, you we don't know. Who are you?".
OK thank you, I think i see what you are saying. I guess even in English if you just said "you, we don't know", a similar reasoning applies.
I wrote "Was nie znamy" because one of the major rules seems to be that Polish sentences should not end in a pronoun. So this situation is a completely necessary exception? Would someone explain why? And is there a general rule for exceptions? Dziękuję.
Object pronouns shouldn't be put at the end, unless there is no other option. Starting a sentence with an object pronoun, however, is not a valid option.
Not 'wrong', but rather weird. It's like saying: "Him - we know, them - we know, you - we don't know..."
Would "Nie ciebie znamy" be correct if referred to "you" (second person singular)?
Always put the negation in front of the verb. There are situations when you can put it elsewhere, but this is higher level stuff, I would say.
To add, "Nie ciebie znamy" means "It is not you that we know" (We know someone else).
It's interesting how this one has to be in the correct order, Nie znamy was, but the others could be with the verb on the end e.g ona was zna, ona nas nie lubi.
When does the pronoun come before or after the verb? ie, how can we tell whether it should be 'Nie znamy was' or 'Nie was znamy'?- or 'Nie ciebie znamy', as I put?
I'm terribly sorry, but at the risk of sounding a bit dim; could someone please explain the difference between "cię" and "was", and when used in the context of this sentence?
