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Właściciel surowo zabrania nieletnim kupować alkohol.

Właściciel surowo zabrania nieletnim kupować alkohol.
The owner strictly forbids minors from buying alcohol.
From Lesson 382:Verbs of command and permission (kazać, pozwalać, zabraniać)·Polish

Breakdown of Właściciel surowo zabrania nieletnim kupować alkohol.

kupować
to buy
zabraniać
to forbid
właściciel
owner
alkohol
alcohol
surowo
strictly
nieletni
minor

Questions & Answers about Właściciel surowo zabrania nieletnim kupować alkohol.

Why is nieletnim in the Dative case here?
The verb zabraniać (to forbid) requires the Dative case for the person being forbidden from doing something. You can think of it as forbidding an action to someone.
Doesn't zabraniać usually take the Genitive case? Why is alkohol in the Accusative?
Yes, if you forbid a noun directly, it takes the Genitive case. However, in this sentence the target of zabraniać is the action kupować. The word alkohol is the direct object of kupować. Since kupować itself is not grammatically negated with the word nie, it takes its normal Accusative case.
Why use the imperfective verb kupować instead of the perfective kupić?
This sentence describes a general, ongoing rule rather than a single, specific event. When talking about general policies, habits, or repeated actions, Polish prefers the imperfective aspect.
Is nieletnim an adjective or a noun here?
It acts as a noun meaning minors, but it declines exactly like an adjective. Nieletni (underage) is a descriptive adjective that became a noun for a young person, so it takes the standard plural Dative adjective ending -im.

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