Word
Nie podoba mi się ten kolor.
Meaning
I do not like this color.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Nie podoba mi się ten kolor.
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
podobać się
to appeal / to like (aesthetically, first impressions)
mi
to me
Questions & Answers about Nie podoba mi się ten kolor.
Why is the verb podoba instead of podobam if the translation says 'I do not like'?
In Polish, the verb podobać się works backward compared to English. Instead of saying 'I like the color,' you actually say 'The color is pleasing to me.' The color (ten kolor) is the subject doing the action, so the verb is podoba (the 'it' form) to match the color.
What does mi mean here, and why don't we use ja (I)?
Because the sentence literally means 'The color is pleasing to me,' we need the 'to me' form of the pronoun, which is mi. You are the receiver of the feeling, not the one doing the action, so the basic 'I' (ja) cannot be used.
Why are the short words mi and się placed right after the verb?
Mi and się are short, unstressed pronouns. They naturally prefer to sit in the middle of the sentence, usually right after the verb (podoba). It is a general rule in Polish to avoid putting these short words at the very end or the very beginning of a sentence if possible.
Why doesn't the word nie change ten kolor to a different case?
You might remember from earlier lessons that nie usually changes a direct object into the Genitive case. However, because podobać się works backward, ten kolor is the subject of the sentence, not the object. The subject always stays in the basic dictionary form (the Nominative case), even in negative sentences.