Questions & Answers about Proszę nie dotykać piekarnika.
What does proszę mean here?
Here, proszę works like please.
Literally, proszę comes from the verb prosić and means I ask or I request, but in everyday Polish it is very often used in polite expressions. In this sentence, proszę + infinitive means something like please do not...
So:
- proszę nie dotykać = please do not touch
This is a very common polite pattern in Polish.
Why is dotykać in the infinitive instead of an imperative form?
Because after proszę, Polish very often uses the infinitive.
So:
- proszę nie dotykać = polite, neutral, common in notices and formal speech
- nie dotykaj = direct singular command, informal
- nie dotykajcie = direct plural command
A native English speaker may expect something like please don’t touch with an imperative, but Polish often prefers proszę + infinitive for polite requests.
That is why dotykać appears in its dictionary form rather than as a command form.
Why is nie a separate word?