Breakdown of Wymagania mojego szefa są zbyt nierealne, żeby im sprostać.
być
to be
one
they (non-masculine personal)
mój
my
szef
boss (m)
Questions & Answers about Wymagania mojego szefa są zbyt nierealne, żeby im sprostać.
Why do we need the pronoun im in the second part of the sentence when English just says 'to meet'?
In Polish, the correlative structure zbyt ... żeby (too ... to) connects two clauses, and the verb in the second clause still needs its object. While English drops the object in this pattern (saying just 'too unrealistic to meet'), Polish requires you to explicitly state what is being met using a pronoun. Here, im (them) refers back to wymagania (requirements).
Why is the pronoun im (dative) used instead of je (accusative)?
The case is determined by the verb sprostać (to meet a challenge or cope with). This verb strictly requires its object to be in the dative case. Since wymagania is a non-virile plural noun, its corresponding dative plural pronoun is im.
How exactly do you use the verb sprostać? Can I use it for meeting a person?
No, sprostać doesn't mean 'to meet' in the sense of encountering someone (which would be spotkać). It means 'to measure up to', 'to cope with', or 'to fulfill'. You will almost always see it paired with abstract nouns in the dative case, such as wymaganiom (requirements), oczekiwaniom (expectations), or wyzwaniu (a challenge).
Could I use za instead of zbyt in this sentence?