"Nikt tu nie pracuje."
Translation:Nobody works here.
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Can this also mean “Nobody here is working”, or is that written differently? (Maybe „Wszyscy tu nie pracuje” - “Everyone here is not working”?)
In other words, why does this mean "Nobody works here" (Duo's answer) instead of "Nobody here works" (my first guess)? Is there a clue in the words used or in the order of them?
Maybe because English uses adverbs at the end of the sentence. In Polish it is possible but is rather accented position. Yes, it can mean “Nobody here is working” but is it natural word order?
"Nobody here works" in English means that nobody here works anywhere, but "nobody works here" means nobody works in this place. How do I differentiate between the two
Well, the Polish sentence can mean both (No person present here has a job), but the second one seems more probable.
To clarify the first meaning, "Nikt tu nie ma pracy".
Is the literal translation in English a double negative? is this common in Polish.
Well, the English translation has to be correct English, so even though Polish needs a double negative, it will just be a single one in English.
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How would one say "Nobody+adjective" like "Nobody important works here"? If we just plop "ciekawy" after "Nikt," would it work?
It would, but that's "nobody interesting". "nobody important" is "nikt ważny".