Breakdown of Nie bójcie się, to nie jest trudne.
to
this
być
to be
nie
no / not
trudny
difficult
bać się
to be afraid
Questions & Answers about Nie bójcie się, to nie jest trudne.
Why is the verb conjugated as bójcie? I thought the infinitive was bać.
The verb bać się (to be afraid) has an irregular imperative (command) form. The stem changes from ba- to bój-. Because the speaker is telling multiple people not to be afraid (you plural), we add the -cie ending, giving us bójcie się.
Why is the word się used in this command?
The verb bać się is inherently reflexive in Polish, meaning it always requires the word się (oneself). Even though English does not use a reflexive pronoun for this concept, dropping it in Polish would make the sentence grammatically incorrect.
Why does trudne end in -e here instead of the standard dictionary form trudny?
Adjectives must match the gender of the word they describe. Here, the adjective describes to (it), which acts as a neuter pronoun. Therefore, we use the neuter adjective ending -e to form trudne.
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