Breakdown of Do tej pory nie dostałem odpowiedzi.
nie
no / not
dostać
to get
odpowiedź
answer
do tej pory
until now, so far
Questions & Answers about Do tej pory nie dostałem odpowiedzi.
Why does Polish use the past tense nie dostałem for the English present perfect "have not received"?
Polish doesn't have a present perfect tense. When talking about an action that didn't happen in the past and still hasn't happened up to now, Polish simply uses the standard past tense. Since receiving an answer is viewed as a single, completed action, it uses the past tense form of the perfective verb dostać.
Why is the word for "answer" in the form odpowiedzi instead of its dictionary form odpowiedź?
In affirmative sentences, the verb dostać (to get) takes the accusative case. However, because this sentence is negative (nie dostałem), the object changes to the genitive case. This is a strict rule in Polish called the Genitive of Negation. The word odpowiedź is a feminine noun ending in a soft consonant, so its genitive form takes an -i at the end.
How does the phrase do tej pory literally translate to "so far"?
The phrase do tej pory literally means "until this time" or "up to this moment." The preposition do (until) always forces the following words into the genitive case, which is why ta (this) becomes tej and pora (time, season) becomes pory.
How would this sentence change if a female speaker were saying it?
The verb dostałem is the masculine first-person past tense form. A female speaker would use the feminine form dostałam, making the sentence: Do tej pory nie dostałam odpowiedzi.
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