Nie lubię, kiedy kibice krzyczą na sędziego, bo powinno się go szanować.

Questions & Answers about Nie lubię, kiedy kibice krzyczą na sędziego, bo powinno się go szanować.

Why is Nie lubię used here? Is something missing after it?

No, nothing is missing. Nie lubię, kiedy... is a very natural Polish pattern meaning I don’t like it when...

Literally, Polish says:

  • Nie lubię = I don’t like
  • kiedy kibice krzyczą... = when fans shout...

English often uses it in this kind of sentence, but Polish does not need an equivalent word here.

You could think of it as:

  • Nie lubię, kiedy pada. = I don’t like it when it rains.
  • Nie lubię, kiedy ludzie kłamią. = I don’t like it when people lie.
What does kiedy mean here? Is it just when?

Yes. Here kiedy means when, in the sense of whenever / at the time that.

So:

  • Nie lubię, kiedy kibice krzyczą na sędziego
    = I don’t like it when fans shout at the referee

In this sentence, kiedy introduces a subordinate clause.

A close alternative is gdy:

  • Nie lubię, gdy kibice krzyczą na sędziego.

That version means essentially the same thing and is also natural.

Why is there a comma before kiedy and before bo?

Because Polish punctuation normally separates subordinate clauses with commas.

Here the sentence has three parts:

  • Nie lubię
  • kiedy kibice krzyczą na sędziego
  • bo powinno się go szanować

So the commas mark the boundaries of the clauses:

  • before kiedy
  • before bo

This is one of the things English speakers often notice: Polish uses commas more regularly before conjunctions introducing subordinate clauses than English does.

Why is it kibice and not some other form?

Kibice is the nominative plural form of kibic.

It is used because kibice is the subject of krzyczą:

  • kibic = a fan / supporter
  • kibice = fans / supporters

So:

  • kibice krzyczą = the fans are shouting

Since they are the ones performing the action, Polish uses the nominative plural.

What exactly does krzyczą na sędziego mean? Why is it na?

Krzyczeć na kogoś means to shout at someone.

So:

  • krzyczeć = to shout
  • na kogoś = at someone

Therefore:

  • krzyczą na sędziego = they are shouting at the referee

This is a fixed and very common pattern in Polish:

  • krzyczeć na dziecko = to shout at a child
  • krzyczeć na kierowcę = to shout at the driver

Be careful: krzyczeć do kogoś is different. It means something more like to shout to someone or call out to someone, not necessarily angrily.

So:

  • krzyczeć na sędziego = shout at the referee
  • krzyczeć do sędziego = shout to the referee / call out to the referee
Why is it sędziego? I thought na often takes the accusative, but this looks like genitive.

Very good question. Here na does take the accusative, but sędziego is the accusative singular form of a masculine animate noun.

For many masculine animate nouns in Polish, the accusative singular looks the same as the genitive singular.

So:

  • sędzia = referee / judge
  • nominative singular: sędzia
  • accusative singular: sędziego
  • genitive singular: sędziego

That is why it may look like genitive, even though after na in this sentence it is accusative.

Compare:

  • Widzę sędziego. = I see the referee.
  • Krzyczą na sędziego. = They shout at the referee.
Why is the word sędzia masculine if it ends in -a?

Because not all nouns ending in -a are feminine.

Sędzia is one of a group of masculine nouns referring to male people that happen to end in -a in the dictionary form. Other examples include:

  • mężczyzna = man
  • kolega = male friend / colleague
  • poeta = poet

These nouns decline in their own way, and in some cases their forms resemble feminine patterns, but grammatically they are masculine when they refer to a man.

That is why later in the sentence we get:

  • go szanować = respect him

The pronoun is masculine.

Why is it powinno się and not powinien się or powinni?

Because this is an impersonal construction.

Powinno się means something like:

  • one should
  • people should
  • it is proper to
  • you’re supposed to (in a general sense)

The się here helps create that impersonal meaning. The form powinno is the neuter singular form, which is commonly used in this kind of impersonal statement.

So:

  • powinno się go szanować
    = one should respect him = he should be respected (natural English equivalent)

This does not mean it should respect him. It is just the standard Polish way of making a general statement without naming a specific subject.

What does się do in powinno się go szanować?

Here się helps create an impersonal meaning.

Without naming who should do the action, Polish can say:

  • Powinno się szanować nauczycieli. = Teachers should be respected.
  • Nie powinno się kłamać. = One should not lie.

So in your sentence:

  • powinno się go szanować
    literally = one should respect him

This is a very common structure in Polish. It is often more natural than using a specific subject like ludzie or wszyscy.

Why is go used here, and who does it refer to?

Go is the accusative form of on (he), and here it means him.

It refers back to sędziego:

  • bo powinno się go szanować
    = because one should respect him

So the idea is:

  • the fans are shouting at the referee,
  • but the speaker thinks that is wrong,
  • because the referee should be respected.

Also notice that go usually appears before the infinitive:

  • powinno się go szanować

That word order is very natural in Polish.

Why is szanować in the infinitive?

Because it follows powinno się, which works here with an infinitive.

The structure is:

  • powinno się + infinitive

So:

  • powinno się szanować = one should respect
  • powinno się pomagać = one should help
  • powinno się słuchać = one should listen

In your sentence:

  • powinno się go szanować = one should respect him

This is similar to English should + base verb.

Could this sentence also be translated as he should be respected?

Yes. That is often the most natural English rendering of the last part.

Polish says:

  • powinno się go szanować

A very literal version is:

  • one should respect him

But in smoother English, especially in this context, you might say:

  • he should be respected

Both express the same idea.

Is kibice the best word for fans here? Could I also say fani?

Yes, kibice is a very natural choice here, especially in a sports context.

  • kibic / kibice = supporter(s), sports fan(s)
  • fan / fani = fan(s), often broader and slightly more borrowed from English

Since the sentence mentions a referee, the sports context is clear, so kibice sounds especially appropriate.

So:

  • kibice krzyczą na sędziego sounds very natural.
Could the sentence be phrased differently in Polish?

Yes, several natural alternatives are possible. For example:

  • Nie lubię, gdy kibice krzyczą na sędziego, bo należy go szanować.
  • Nie lubię, kiedy kibice krzyczą na sędziego, ponieważ trzeba go szanować.
  • Nie lubię, kiedy kibice krzyczą na sędziego, bo sędziego trzeba szanować.

These are all similar, but there are slight differences:

  • gdy is a close alternative to kiedy
  • ponieważ is more formal than bo
  • trzeba and należy are alternatives to the impersonal powinno się

The original sentence is perfectly natural and idiomatic.

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