Breakdown of Katar to nic poważnego.
to
is (linking copula)
nic
nothing
poważny
serious
katar
runny nose, head cold
Questions & Answers about Katar to nic poważnego.
Why does poważnego end in -ego here? Shouldn't it just be poważne?
In Polish, adjectives that come directly after indefinite pronouns like coś (something) or nic (nothing) must take the genitive case. Since these pronouns are treated as neuter, we use the neuter genitive ending -ego. This is why "something good" is coś dobrego and "nothing serious" is nic poważnego.
Where is the verb in this sentence? Why don't we use jest?
When defining one thing as another (saying "X is Y"), Polish often uses the pronoun to as an equals sign and drops the verb być (to be) completely. You could include the verb, but leaving it out is very common and sounds natural in everyday speech.
If I did want to include the verb jest, would I need to use a double negative?
Yes! Polish requires a double negative when a negative pronoun like nic is used with a verb. If you add the verb, the sentence must become Katar to nie jest nic poważnego. Because the verb is dropped in our shorter sentence, the word nie disappears with it.
Does katar mean a cold in general, or specifically a runny nose?
Katar refers specifically to a runny or stuffy nose. If you want to talk about having a general cold, perhaps with a fever or a sore throat, you would use the noun przeziębienie.
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