Breakdown of Nawet najlepszy z nas czasami zwleka, zamiast od razu pracować.
dobry
good
pracować
to work
my
we
czasami
sometimes
z
from (+ Genitive)
zamiast
instead of
nawet
even
od razu
right away, at once
zwlekać
to delay
Questions & Answers about Nawet najlepszy z nas czasami zwleka, zamiast od razu pracować.
Why is pracować in the infinitive form here instead of an '-ing' noun like in English?
When you want to express 'instead of doing an action', Polish simply uses zamiast followed directly by the basic infinitive verb. You don't need to create a verbal noun or add an equivalent for the English word 'of'. It structurally works like 'instead to work'.
Is the comma before zamiast mandatory?
Yes, Polish punctuation rules strictly require it. You must always place a comma before zamiast when it introduces an infinitive clause like zamiast od razu pracować, because it functions as a subordinate clause.
English often says 'the best of us' as a collective, so why is najlepszy in the singular here?
In Polish, najlepszy z nas refers to 'the single best individual among us', which is why it uses the masculine singular form. If you wanted to talk about 'the best people' as a plural group, you would use the plural form najlepsi z nas.
Could I use a word like opóźnia instead of zwleka for 'delays'?
Not in this context. Zwlekać specifically means to procrastinate, drag one's feet, or put an action off. Opóźniać means to delay something in a physical or logistical sense, like a delayed flight or pushing back a meeting time. For human procrastination, zwlekać is the natural choice.
Why do we use the preposition z with nas here?
The preposition z followed by the genitive case (which gives us nas) is used to mean 'out of' or 'among' when singling someone out from a group. So najlepszy z nas literally translates to 'the best out of us'.
Learn Nawet najlepszy z nas czasami zwleka, zamiast od razu pracować and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free