Breakdown of Pracodawca zabrania pracownikom palić w biurze.
w
in / on (a day)
biuro
office
pracownik
employee
zabraniać
to forbid
palić
to smoke
pracodawca
employer
Questions & Answers about Pracodawca zabrania pracownikom palić w biurze.
Why do we use the Dative pracownikom instead of the Accusative pracowników here?
The verb zabraniać (to forbid), just like kazać (to order) and pozwalać (to allow), requires the person receiving the command or permission to be in the Dative case. We use the Dative plural pracownikom to show who is being forbidden, and then simply attach the forbidden action as an infinitive (palić).
Why is the imperfective infinitive palić used instead of the perfective zapalić?
When expressing a general rule, ban, or ongoing prohibition, Polish almost always uses the imperfective infinitive. Using palić emphasizes that the act of smoking in general is forbidden. A perfective verb would only be used for a specific, one-time action.
Is zabrania perfective or imperfective?
Zabrania is imperfective, coming from the infinitive zabraniać. This matches the context of a general, ongoing company rule. If the employer were issuing a sudden, one-time ban, you would use the perfective equivalent, which is zabronić.
As a quick refresher, why does the word biuro change to biurze?
The preposition w (in) requires the Locative case when describing a static location. For neuter nouns ending in -o like biuro, the Locative ending is -e. Adding this vowel ending causes the stem consonant r to soften into rz, resulting in w biurze.
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