Breakdown of Po drugie, nie reaguję na złośliwe prowokacje.
nie
no / not
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
reagować
to react
po drugie
secondly
złośliwy
malicious
prowokacja
provocation
Questions & Answers about Po drugie, nie reaguję na złośliwe prowokacje.
The verb is negated (nie reaguję). Why isn't the object złośliwe prowokacje in the genitive case?
This perfectly illustrates the prepositional constraint on the Genitive of Negation. Normally, a negated verb forces a direct object to change from accusative to genitive. However, because the object here is introduced by the preposition na, that preposition protects its case. Since na requires the accusative when expressing a reaction to something, złośliwe prowokacje stays in the accusative despite the nie.
Does the verb reagować always take the preposition na?
Yes, when you want to say you react to something in Polish, you use reagować na followed by the accusative case. The preposition is required here to connect the verb to its object.
How does the grammar of the phrase po drugie work?
Po drugie is a fixed expression meaning secondly. When listing points in an argument (firstly, secondly, thirdly), Polish uses the preposition po followed by the neuter accusative form of the ordinal number, giving us phrases like po pierwsze, po drugie, and po trzecie.
Why does the adjective take the form złośliwe here?
The noun prowokacje is plural and non-virile (it does not refer to male persons). Because the preposition na puts the entire phrase into the accusative case, the adjective modifying a non-virile plural noun takes the -e ending, resulting in złośliwe.
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