Breakdown of Mój brat nie powinien był tego zignorować.
to
this
być
to be
nie
no / not
brat
brother
mój
my
powinien
should, ought to
zignorować
to ignore
Questions & Answers about Mój brat nie powinien był tego zignorować.
How do we form the past unfulfilled obligation for this masculine subject?
Why is the word tego in the genitive case here instead of the accusative to?
This is a classic example of the Genitive of Negation. The verb zignorować normally takes a direct object in the accusative case. However, because the modal verb powinien is negated with nie, the direct object of the attached infinitive must switch to the genitive case, making it tego.
Why is nie placed before powinien instead of before zignorować?
To express that someone shouldn't have done something, you negate the modal verb (nie powinien). If you placed nie right before the infinitive (powinien był tego nie zignorować), it would awkwardly mean that his duty was to actively not ignore it, rather than him simply making a mistake by ignoring it.
Why do we use the perfective verb zignorować rather than the imperfective ignorować?
We use the perfective aspect because the sentence refers to a single, completed failure to act in the past. If you wanted to say he shouldn't have been ignoring it continuously or repeatedly over a period of time, you would use the imperfective ignorować.
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