Breakdown of Gdzie jest mój kupon? Oby nikt go nie wziął.
być
to be
gdzie
where
on
he / it (m)
nie
no / not
mój
my
wziąć
to take (perf.)
nikt
nobody
oby
hopefully / if only
kupon
the betting slip
Questions & Answers about Gdzie jest mój kupon? Oby nikt go nie wziął.
Why is wziął in the past tense if I am expressing a hope right now?
The particle oby is always followed by the past-tense form (the L-participle) to express a strong wish, hope, or fear. In this sentence, you are hoping that the action of someone taking the ticket did not already happen. Even if you were hoping for a future event, oby would still require this past-tense structure.
Why does wziął take the masculine singular form here?
The negative pronoun nikt (no one) grammatically acts as a third-person singular masculine subject. Whenever nikt is the subject of a past-tense sentence, the verb must take the masculine singular ending -ł, regardless of the actual gender of the unknown person who might have taken it.
Why is the pronoun go placed right in the middle of nikt and nie wziął?
Does the double negative of nikt and nie wziął cancel out to make a positive?
No, Polish strictly requires negative concord (a double negative) here. When using a negative word like nikt, the verb must also be negated with nie. The negatives do not cancel out; the structure simply translates to "no one took".
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