Nie lubię się targować.

Lubić is the dictionary form, meaning to like.
Lubię is the 1st person singular present tense form: I like.

So:

• lubić = to like
• lubię = I like
• nie lubię = I don’t like

In this sentence, Polish uses the present tense the same way English does for a general preference.

After verbs like lubić (to like), Polish usually uses another verb in the infinitive:

• Lubię czytać. = I like reading / I like to read.
• Lubię gotować. = I like cooking / I like to cook.
• Nie lubię się targować. = I don’t like bargaining / to bargain.

Polish does not need a separate word like English to before the second verb. The infinitive form itself already does that job.

Here, się is part of the verb targować się. You should learn targować się as a whole expression meaning to bargain / to haggle.

In other words, się here is not best understood as a literal myself / yourself / oneself. In many Polish verbs, się helps create the normal dictionary meaning of the verb.

So for this meaning, think of:

• targować się = to haggle

not as:

• targować
  • się separately

For the meaning to haggle, no — you should normally keep się.

A good rule for learners is: if the verb is learned as targować się, treat that as the full verb. Dropping się can make the sentence sound wrong or change the meaning.

Yes. Both of these are possible:

• Nie lubię się targować.
• Nie lubię targować się.

The meaning is basically the same. Polish word order is more flexible than English word order.

That said, Nie lubię się targować sounds very natural and is probably the version most learners should use first.

Also, się usually does not go at the very beginning of a clause.

Yes and no.

With noun objects, Polish often changes the object to the genitive after negation:

• Lubię kawę. = I like coffee.
• Nie lubię kawy. = I don’t like coffee.

But in Nie lubię się targować, there is no noun object after lubię. Instead, there is an infinitive verb: targować się.

So in this sentence, you just add nie before lubię. No case change is involved.

Yes, targować się is imperfective.

That makes sense here because lubić / nie lubić usually talks about activities in a general way:

• what you enjoy
• what you dislike
• what you tend to do or avoid doing

When Polish talks about liking or disliking an activity in general, it normally uses the imperfective verb.

So Nie lubię się targować means you do not like the activity of haggling in general.

Usually it sounds like a general preference:

• I don’t like haggling.

If you want to say that you do not feel like doing it right now, Polish often uses other phrases, for example:

• Nie mam ochoty się targować. = I don’t feel like haggling.
• Nie chce mi się targować. = I can’t be bothered to haggle.

So Nie lubię się targować is most naturally understood as a general statement.

Nie lubię is the normal, neutral way to say I don’t like.

It is not as strong as I hate.

Compare:

• Nie lubię się targować. = I don’t like haggling.
• Nienawidzę się targować. = I hate haggling.

So the original sentence is fairly natural and not overly dramatic.

A very common pattern is:

• targować się z kimś = to bargain with someone
• targować się o coś = to bargain over something

Examples:

• Nie lubię się targować z sprzedawcami. = I don’t like bargaining with sellers.
• Targowali się o cenę. = They bargained over the price.

So if you want to expand the sentence, those are the patterns to learn.

Się is pronounced with a soft ś sound, somewhat like a very soft English sh, followed by e with nasal coloring.

A rough English approximation is shyeh with a light nasal quality at the end.

In everyday speech, final ę is often only weakly nasal, so learners may hear something close to sie, but the correct spelling is still się.