"Nie pracujemy z żadnymi artystami."

Translation: We do not work with any artists.

[HelenaJanisch]

Is the instrumental case always used after 'z'?

[Jellei]

If "z" means "with", yes. But it can have some other meanings, most importantly 'from' (from somewhere / made from something) and that takes Genitive.

[HelenaJanisch]

Dziękuję!

[Maksym626803]

With my knowledge of Ukrainian I would prefer to use the singular form of "artysta": "Nie pracujemy z żadnym artystą". Is it natural to use the plural form of "artysta" in this sentence?

[Jellei]

Both look fine, with just a small nuance of difference between them... I would say it this way: "Boss, there are two artists here ready for work! - We are not working with any artists! / Boss, there is an artist here ready for work! - We are not working with any artist!"

[96314081311257]

Could one say

"Oni nie są żadnymi artystami."

?

If so, how would it differ in meaning from "Oni nie są artystami."?

[Jellei]

Yes, that is correct.

"Oni nie są artystami" simply means "They are not artists"

Adding "żadnymi" suggests that either 'they' themselves or your interlocutor claims that "they are artists", and you consider that statement total BS.

[96314081311257]

Dziękuję!

[MichaelNie276572]

So to get this straight, we change 'z' to 'ze' prior to a word beginning with 's' or 'sz', but not 'ż' ?

[Jellei]

ż as well, but generally the rule is for words which start with a cluster of two consonants, first of which is z/s/sz/ż and similar. 'żadnymi' has just one consonant at the beginning.

[Cosmopoiesis]

This is more of a general question but i have a lot of trouble hearing "z" in a sentence, particularly when the next letter is also a z. Is Duolingo reflective of how it would be spoken?

[Jellei]

Well, it sounds pretty clear to me and it generally should be clear. If the next letter is also a "z" (here you have "ż"), it will kinda make a double "z" sound.

[Cosmopoiesis]

Thanks! I'll perk up my ears and will probably start hearing it once I have more experience with the language.

[ryszard440]

Put we do not work with any artist. Got it wrong. I know it's singular, but though it would imply the same?

[Jellei]

Well, firstly we'd definitely prefer to keep to plural if the original sentence used plural.

Secondly, it is my understanding that "any" shouldn't be used with a singular noun this way (although to my non-native mind it's a very surprising rule).

[NelsonCanh3]

Is this sentence meant as "we don't work with just some random artists"?

[alik1989]

No, it means what it means, we don't work with any artists at all.