Breakdown of Jeśli spóźnimy się, nikt nie znajdzie dla nas miejsca w samolocie.
nie
not
w
on
znaleźć
to find
jeśli
if
dla
for
nikt
no one
samolot
the plane
spóźnić się
to be late
nas
us
miejsce
the seat
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Questions & Answers about Jeśli spóźnimy się, nikt nie znajdzie dla nas miejsca w samolocie.
Why is jeśli used here, and how does it differ from gdy or kiedy?
- jeśli = “if” introduces a real (likely) condition.
- gdy/kiedy = “when” (time) or “whenever,” often marks events rather than conditions.
- You could also use jeżeli, which is virtually interchangeable with jeśli in this context.
- Wrong: Gdy spóźnimy się, nikt… would more naturally be understood as “When we are late…,” implying it always happens, not a hypothetical.
What is spóźnimy się? Which person, tense and aspect is it, and why does it have się?
- spóźnimy się = 1st person plural (“we”), future tense, perfective aspect of spóźnić się.
- Perfective aspect focuses on the completion of the action (“be late” as a single event).
- się is the reflexive particle required by spóźnić się, turning “to delay” into “to be late.”
Why is the verb znajdzie in the singular when the meaning seems to refer to “people” (nobody)?
- nikt (“nobody”) is grammatically singular in Polish.
- Any verb with nikt takes 3rd person singular: nikt nie znajdzie (“nobody will find”).
Why do we see both nikt and nie in nikt nie znajdzie? Isn’t that double negation?
- Polish uses negative concord: multiple negatives reinforce the negation rather than cancel it.
- nikt already means “no one,” and nie negates the verb “to find.”
- Together they give a single meaning: “nobody will find.”
Why is miejsca in the genitive (ending in ‑a) instead of nominative or accusative?
- After a negated transitive verb, Polish often uses the genitive for the direct object.
- Affirmative: znajdą miejsce (Accusative = miejsce).
- Negative: nie znajdą miejsca (Genitive = miejsca).
- Here we also have dla nas, so the full phrase is dla nas miejsca.
What case is nas in dla nas, and why?
- dla always takes the genitive case.
- nas is the genitive form of my (“we”), so dla nas = “for us.”
Why is samolocie in the locative case?
- The preposition w (“in”) requires the locative when expressing location.
- samolot (nominative) → samolocie (locative).
- w samolocie = “on/in the airplane.”
Why is there a comma before nikt in the sentence?
- A subordinate clause (Jeśli spóźnimy się) precedes the main clause, so Polish orthography mandates a comma between them.