Breakdown of Często nie dochodzimy do porozumienia, bo brakuje mi cierpliwości.
ja
I
nie
no / not
często
often
bo
because
do
to
brakować
to lack / to be missing
cierpliwość
patience
porozumienie
the agreement (understanding, settlement)
dochodzić
to arrive at
Questions & Answers about Często nie dochodzimy do porozumienia, bo brakuje mi cierpliwości.
Why do we use a verb of motion (dochodzić) to talk about reaching an agreement here?
In Polish, many verbs of motion are used abstractly to describe processes. Dochodzić literally means to walk or come up to a certain point. When paired with do porozumienia (to an agreement), it idiomatically means to reach an agreement. The prefix do- strongly implies arriving at a target or boundary.
Since this is an abstract idiom, how do we know whether to use dochodzić or dojść?
The rules for aspect still apply perfectly to abstract verbs of motion! Because of the word często (often), this is a repeated, habitual action. Therefore, we need the imperfective form dochodzić. If you were talking about finally reaching a single, specific agreement, you would use the perfective dojść.
Why is the second half phrased as brakuje mi cierpliwości instead of nie mam cierpliwości?
While you could say nie mam cierpliwości (I do not have patience), using brakować (to lack) sounds very natural and emphasizes the shortage itself. Remember that brakować is an impersonal verb: it stays in the third-person singular (brakuje), the person who lacks something takes the dative case (mi), and the thing that is lacking takes the genitive case (cierpliwości).
What is the root of the word porozumienie?
It comes from the verb rozumieć (to understand). When you add the prefix po-, it creates porozumieć się, which means to communicate or come to an understanding with someone. Porozumienie is just the noun form of that shared understanding or agreement.
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