Breakdown of Nie ma sensu zgadywać hasła; lepiej spokojnie zadzwonić do biura.
mieć
to have
do
to
lepiej
better
biuro
the office
Questions & Answers about Nie ma sensu zgadywać hasła; lepiej spokojnie zadzwonić do biura.
How does nie ma sensu zgadywać... work, and why is there no word for it or there?
This is a very common Polish impersonal pattern.
- nie ma sensu = there is no point / it makes no sense
- then comes an infinitive: zgadywać = to guess
So Nie ma sensu zgadywać... means There is no point in guessing...
Polish often does not need a dummy subject like English it or there. English says There is no point; Polish simply says Nie ma sensu.
You can use the same pattern with many verbs:
- Nie ma sensu czekać.
- Nie ma sensu się kłócić.
- Nie ma sensu próbować.
Why is it sensu, not sens?
Because sens is affected by negation after ma / mieć.
Compare:
- To ma sens. = That makes sense.
- To nie ma sensu. = That doesn’t make sense.
In standard Polish, the object of mieć often changes to the genitive under negation. So:
- positive: ma sens
- negative: nie ma sensu
That is why you get sensu here.
Why is the verb zgadywać, not zgadnąć?