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- "September is not my month."
"September is not my month."
Translation:Wrzesień to nie mój miesiąc.
11 Comments
436
Is it possible to write a negative sentence of this type with być? Normally, you'd use the genitive after a negated verb, but być takes the instrumental--how does all that work out in this case (if it does)?
The thing is, it's when a positive sentence takes Accusative, then it turns into Genitive when negated. So this is not the case here. Negated sentence with Instrumental will still be in Instrumental:
Wrzesień nie jest moim miesiącem.
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/16373167 - I really believe this should answer all your questions.
But tl;dr - It's either "Wrzesień nie jest moim miesiącem" (Instrumental) or "Wrzesień to nie mój miesiąc" (Nominative).
Although I usually recommend the Instrumental construction, such a sentence seems more idiomatic to me in Nominative.
The instrumental case seems more obvious to me as a new learner, except for the fact that something like 'moim' seems to bee needed. Which I havent learned yet.
Dlaczego nie?
Either "Wrzesień to nie mój miesiąc" or "Wrzesień nie jest moim miesiącem".
say I went somewhere in Poland where I said "Wrzesien nie moj miesiac" would they understand me . I remember going into some big shops in Poland and when I spoke a smile would appear on their face. Didn't know whether it was my accent (Australian) or what I said.
I guess it sounds like "September not my month", so you probably would have been understood.
Many Poles are indeed surprised if they hear that anglophones actually bother to learn Polish, so that could be a reason you've been smiled at.
