Assembling Furniture
First, let's look at the basic vocabulary for assembling a set:
| I always read the manual when I assemble this new set. | Zawsze czytam instrukcję, kiedy montuję ten nowy zestaw. |
Missing and Lacking
To express missing or lacking something, use an impersonal construction with the imperfective verb brakować. Because the subject is an abstract "it," the verb is always in the third-person singular (e.g., the present tense brakuje).
Specify who is missing something using the Dative case (like mi or nam), followed by the thing that is missing in the Genitive case.
| The set is not complete because we are missing the manual. | Zestaw nie jest kompletny, ponieważ brakuje nam instrukcji. |
Lacking in the Past
For an ongoing lack in the past, use the past tense form. As an impersonal verb, it takes the neuter singular ending -ło, making it brakowało.
| When I was assembling the wardrobe, I was missing one spare screw. | Kiedy montowałem szafę, brakowało mi jednej zapasowej śrubki. |
Running Out of Things
To talk about running out of something, use the perfective equivalent braknąć. For a future event, use the third-person singular form braknie.
| I am afraid that we will run out of screws. | Boję się, że braknie nam śrubek. |
| Tomorrow he will run out of wood and spare elements. | Jutro braknie mu drewna i zapasowych elementów. |
Noun Experiencers
If the person lacking something is a noun rather than a pronoun, that noun must also be in the Dative case.
| This engineer is missing a screwdriver, without which he cannot work. | Temu inżynierowi brakuje śrubokrętu, bez którego nie może pracować. |
