"Nie mogę napisać tego za ciebie."
Translation:I cannot write this instead of you.
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"za ciebie" means "instead of you"
dla ciebie - would be "because you asked me to" "because you need it" etc.
Weird English here. "I cannot write this instead of you writing it" would be more normal, but even more convoluted.
That would be a different verb: "muszę" as opposed to "mogę". These two could be similar in meaning, but can still imply different things.
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No, Jerry, you're mistaken here. "I must not" is indeed a possible translation of "nie mogę", while "nie muszę" means "I don't have to".
Usually I type instead of using the word bank but decided to try tapping instead of typing to give myself a chance to get used to the new verb forms.
An interesting thing here is that "instead of you" is not offered in the word bank, only "for you". I thought nothing of that, since "for you" is exactly what I would say in English in this context. It was marked wrong.
Also, "instead" is not offered as a translation of "za" in Wiktionary.
However, I understand that the important thing here is that I know that in Polish it is "za ciebie". :-)
I've restricted myself to typing, otherwise I would never learn how to spell words like "potrzebuję", "mężczyzna" and "dziewczynka"
I agree. Typing is absolutely the way to go. I have been working on Polish for over a year now and have always restricted myself to typing. Then when I got to past perfective, it seemed like to much too soon, so I decided to stop moving forward in the tree and just review verb forms. Using the word bank during my review of the perfective allowed me to concentrate more on the verbs and less on the pronoun forms, for example.
Funny you should mention those particular words. I remember my very first polish lessons when "mężczyzna", "dziewczynka" and "ciasteczka" seemed so daunting, and now it feels quite natural to use them and spell them.
Here „Zamiast” would also refer to pisać.
Nie mogę napisać tego zamiast ciebie. Would be understood like: Nie mogę napisać tego zamiast (napisać) ciebie.
Hm. It's something like this: I cannot change the thing I write from you to this.
Other examples:
Wybieram ją zamiast ciebie = I choose her instead of you.
Wybieram ją za ciebie = I choose her and give you away. Alternatively: I choose her, but I's you who originally should choose.
Thank you. So, if I decide, it's "zamiast", yes? If the other person decides, it's "za". Is that right?
Ehm, no. I fell like a bad teacher right now. I'll try one more time:
zamiast = „in place of”, „instead of”.
za = „to relieve sb of sth”,
Ahh, now I understand it. Don't feel like a bad teacher. It's just a misunderstanding.
Why is this perfective? It doesn't sound completed and there's no guarantee it ever will be...
Well, but if you want someone to write this essay that you're supposed to hand in tomorrow, you would want it to be written as a whole, not just started.
"Nie mogę pisać tego za ciebie" would sound like "I cannot write your weekly column in the New York Times for you, I'm busy on Fridays!"
I see. So niedokonany is a valid sentence, it just means something completely different.
By the way, is there any pattern at all to how to change the perfective form of a verb to the imperfective or vice versa? At this point it looks completely random to me.
Edit: Typo. Thanks Jerry!
I don't believe that there is any pattern per se. Sometimes it's a preposition, sometimes a few letters within the verb, and sometimes the verbs are completely different :-( !
BTW, I think it's "niedokonany"....
The meaning will change from "on your behalf / instead of you" to "for you (so you can use it)".
Please read the other comments, I believe this has been discussed sufficiently.
I was surprised by the translation. I thought this meant I cannot write this for you?
Yeah, many people do. But that would be "dla ciebie".
"za ciebie" is "this is your homework, you should do it yourself, I can't write it instead of you, that's ridiculous".
That makes sense and is a little clearer. I would use "for you" in english rather than "instead of you" but I follow you. Thank you!
It's even a starred answer, but to make it the default would spoil the whole purpose, because then "dla ciebie" would be the most natural answer :|
Let's say you have 10 possible answers, and two of them are 'starred', i.e. they are ex aequo 'best answers'. Those are the ones that may be required of you in some exercises.
And would "dla ciebie"/"for you" be used for writing something for somebody else to read, for example, something for one's boss or teacher?
Actually, "I cannot write this on your behalf" would be a more likely English sentence.
Hmmm... I'm not sure. Doesn't "on behalf of you" suggest that it will be known that I wrote it? If a parent writes their child's homework essay, that will be rather kept quiet...
Well, I don't think that it does that exactly, but, to me, it does imply something over and above the simple word "instead". Can't quite explain it though!
Acting "on your behalf" implies acting according to your interests rather than their own. For example, when a lawyer argues in court on your behalf, he must defend you to the best of his ability even if he privately thinks you are guilty.
i keep checking the word (i forgot how to spell it) and it says it means "might" or "may" but when i write it as might or may it changes it to "cannot"
Well, "może" generally can mean "may" or "might", but not in every context. I don't think that "may not" or "might not" fit this sentence.
" I may not write this instead of you." means that somebody has forbidden me to do so, whereas "cannot" should mean that I don't have the capability do so so. However, using "may" in this sense is very old-fashioned, and has pretty much dropped out of use in the U.K., to the despair of the older generation of English teachers. I think it's more common in the U.S.A; for example: Q to a wait-person: "Can I have another glass of wine?" A:"Yes, you may."
Then the question would have to be : "May I have another glass of water ?"
"May I" and "You may" are no longer common in the U.S. even though I still hear it in some more formal contexts and even still use it in certain circumstances.
Usually, if someone answers the question "Can I ... ?" with "You may", it someone of an older generation (or an English teacher) trying to "correct" the younger person or teach him/her the form "may".
If that's so, then I guess I have to add "may not". Which I've just done.
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So 'for you' means 'instead of you' here? Maybe my English is not the best, but it still sounds strange for me..
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Yes, you could imagine the situation that you have to write an essay and don't know how to do it. So I say "I can help you, but I cannot write it for you. You have to do it yourself". To use "instead of you" here would sound rather odd in English, but that's the literal translation of the Polish sentence.
Is "nie mogę napisać za ciebię tego" a bad version of the polish sentence? I don't understand why ciebię is the last word.
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"ciebie", no -ę
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Well... I think that the most important part of this sentence is definitely the 'for you' ('instead of you') one. Putting "tego" at the end is like "I cannot write THIS for you" (I can write a lot of stuff for you, just not this).