"Nie możesz pracować będąc zmęczonym."
Translation:You cannot work when you are tired.
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Tired doctor might kill you! Why don't you understand that, polish government... :C /just my sad thoughts/
Hi, I translated this as 'You cannot work whilst tired'. 'While' and 'whilst' mean the same thing, however, 'whilst' is more commonly used in Britain than in the US.
What case is "zmęczonym" and why? I can't find an answer to the first question below.
It's the instrumental case. However, I'm not sure why the adjective has been declinated, as it is not paired with a noun e.g. it would be Jestem zmęczon/y/a, rather than jestem zmęczon/ym/ą. This can be contrasted to, for e.g., ''Jestem zmęczonym mężczyzną'', which does have a noun. Can anyone help with an answer to this? MOD? Thanks. (P.S. I can recommend the following YouTube video for anyone who needs more info re the instrumental case ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM-Uzgy225A)
A contact of mine, who is a professional interpreter of Polish/English gave me the answer to this question:-
Under normal circumstances, a stand alone adjective is NOT declinated (e.g. Jestem zmęczony), however there are exceptions to this.
1) A stand alone adjective following certain prepositions WILL be declinated e.g. Tom wygląda na szczęśliwego. = Tom looks happy.
2) A stand alone adjective having an IMPLIED physical/material form will also be declinated e.g. Nie podobała mi się czerwona, więc kupiłam zieloną. = I didn’t like the red (one), so I bought the green (one). (In this example, the omitted noun is feminine).
So, going back to the original sentence …
Nie możesz pracować będąc zmęczonym. = this would imply = ‘’You cannot work, being (a) tired (person).’’
Hope this helps. (Thanks to alukasiak for his help with this one).
