Żaden plan nie jest prosty, ale ten działa dobrze.

to be

Breakdown of Żaden plan nie jest prosty, ale ten działa dobrze.

• ale: but
• nie: not
• plan: the plan

Questions & Answers about Żaden plan nie jest prosty, ale ten działa dobrze.

Why do we have both żaden and nie? Isn’t that a double negative?

Polish uses negative concord: negative words like żaden, nikt, nic require the verb to be negated with nie. So żaden plan nie jest… is the normal, correct pattern. Leaving out nie would be ungrammatical or change the meaning.

What exactly does żaden mean, and how does it agree with the noun?

Żaden means “no” or “not a single.” It agrees with the noun in gender, number, and case:

• Masculine singular: żaden plan
• Feminine singular: żadna książka
• Neuter singular: żadne rozwiązanie
• Plural masculine personal: żadni ludzie
• Other plurals: żadne plany In the sentence, żaden plan is nominative singular masculine because it’s the subject.

Why is there a comma before ale?

In Polish, you must put a comma before coordinating conjunctions like ale when they join two independent clauses. Each half of the sentence has its own verb, so a comma is required.

Why is it prosty, not prostym, after jest?