Questions & Answers about Nie wiem, czy ona lubi ten film.
Why is there no ja in Nie wiem? In English we say I don’t know.
In Polish, subject pronouns (ja, ty, on, ona…) are usually dropped because the verb ending already shows the person.
- wiem = I know
- wiesz = you (sg.) know
- wie = he/she/it knows
So Nie wiem literally is Don’t know, but it is always understood as I don’t know.
You can say Ja nie wiem for emphasis (like I don’t know), but the neutral version is simply Nie wiem.
What exactly does czy mean here?
czy in this sentence is a conjunction meaning roughly whether / if in I don’t know whether/if she likes this film.
Key points:
- It introduces an indirect yes/no question:
- Nie wiem, czy ona lubi ten film. = I don’t know whether she likes this film.
- On its own, at the beginning of a sentence, czy is often a question word:
- Czy ona lubi ten film? = Does she like this film?
So here czy links the verb wiem with the clause ona lubi ten film and turns it into a whether/if-type clause.