"Nie noszę koszuli."
Translation:I do not wear a shirt.
54 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Wouldn't "nie mam na sobie koszuli" be "I don't have a shirt on" Which is also a common saying in English. But the verb that is being used here is Nosić. So it should be to wear or to carry. So why wouldn't "I am not wearing a shirt." work? It's even the imperfective form. So it should be able to take the "ing". If I'm wrong, can you tell me how?
Verbs of movement (there are twelve of those in Polish) show a distinction between habitual and current action. Nosić is habitual (indeterminate), whereas nieść is non-habitual (determinate). So, theoretically you would use nieść here, but unfortunately, unlike its counterpart nosić, it doesn't mean wear, only carry. That's why mieć na sobie is used instead.
If you're looking for a simple answer, it's permissible to assume that those are two entirely separate and independent categories.
If you want to go a bit into detail, then I could add the following:
The combination determinate + perfective does not necessarily denote a completed action, but that the action has already started.
On popłynął - He started to swim (in a specific direction).
The combination indeterminate + perfective does not necessarily denote a completed action, but that an action is meant to last for a short period:
Jeszcze trochę popływam - I'm going to swim around some more (for a little while).
Hi, Polish person here. "Koszuli" can be read singular or plural but in this case plural is actually more likely because it sounds like Present Simple in English - I (generally speaking) don't wear shirts. If you want to say "I am not wearing a shirt" you'd say something more akin to "Nie mam na sobie koszuli" or "Nie mam ubranej koszuli", which translate respectively to "I don't have a shirt on me" and "I am not dressed in a shirt". (Also worth mentioning that "koszula" is a button up shirt, not just any shirt.)
come on duo...sort this out please !!! i do not wear a shirt is present simple and cannot stand alone without additional info....i do not wear a shirt on saturdays, for example...i am not commenting on the translation into polish (which is a different matter entirely), but, in english it can either be, im not wearing a shirt (at this particular moment) or i dont wear shirts (ever)
1592
This is typical of slavic languages ( russian in particular) Don't ask me why Tips or notes would have been helpful here
You're thinking in the right direction, but not exactly.
-
'nieść' is only 'to be carrying'. And then 'nosić' may be either 'to carry' or 'to wear'.
-
The real translation of 'to be wearing', which is 'mieć na sobie', was clearly forgotten by the creators of this course. So we are unable to offer the proper Polish answer as the default sentence.
-
This doesn't mean "I do not wear shirts", it does mean "I do not wear a shirt"... which is not the most perfect sentence.
That's a very broad topic, so I'd suggest to take a look here and search for posts about cases: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/16296174
This link is pasted a few times under every sentence with this verb: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/27628688
Like everyone else, in English, irrespective of the literal meaning of this phrase from Polish, I'm frustrated that the idiomatic "I'm not wearing a shirt" is refused as a perfectly acceptable translation. "I do not wear a shirt" requires further qualification: 'I do not wear a shirt on the beach" "I do not wear a shirt in the shower" etc etc. "I'm not wearing a shirt" means not now, eg I'm wearing a pullover, a t-shirt etc etc. Come one Duo, we're dealing with usage, idiom and comprehensibility here.
'I'm not wearing a shirt' is indeed perfectly idiomatic but it's a translation of 'Nie mam na sobie koszuli' not 'Nie noszę koszuli.'
This course is primarily teaching Polish (and secondarily teaching English to Polish speakers) so conveying and testing for the literal meaning of the Polish is what matters. Accepting 'I am not wearing a shirt' would mislead many people into believing that 'Nie noszę koszuli' can mean 'I'm not wearing a/the shirt right now,' regardless of what I may wear in general, and it doesn't mean that.
I agree that many sentences that use the Present Simple would feel more complete with some context but it's not essential and we can assume where Present Simple is used that the context was given elsewhere in the imaginary conversation/piece of writing.
'Do you wear at shirt at the office?'
'I don't wear a shirt, I wear a t-shirt.'
This is a result of a mistake in creating the course, because the actual phrase for "to be wearing" was not introduced at all. All we have is the word "nosić", which means "to wear", not "to be wearing". This results in some sentences being unnatural, because we don't have enough vocabulary at this point to make it better (like your "at the office" example).
It should either be, 'I don't wear shirts" or "I'm not wearing a shirt." Since the hints made it clear that this verb tense means wear (in general), not "am wearing (right now)", it should be I don't wear shirts. I don't wear a shirt is a very weird syntactical phrase that I can't imagine a native English speaker using in this stand-alone context. Maybe as part of a dependent clause, but not like that. My translation of I don't wear shirts was marked incorrect. I understand that the Polish is singular not plural, but saying it that way in English is weird