Breakdown of Rodzice nigdy się z nim nie zgadzają.
on
he / it (m)
nie
no / not
z
with
nigdy
never
zgadzać się
to agree
rodzice
the parents
Questions & Answers about Rodzice nigdy się z nim nie zgadzają.
Why does the sentence use both nigdy and nie?
In Polish, double negation is required. When you use a negative word like nigdy (never), you still must put nie (not) right before the verb. It literally translates as 'never not agree', but in English it just means 'never agree'.
How do we get nim for 'him'? I thought 'he' was on.
You are right that 'he' is on. However, the preposition z (with) always requires the word that follows it to take the Instrumental case. The Instrumental form of the pronoun on is nim. That is why 'with him' becomes z nim.
What is the purpose of się in this sentence?
The Polish verb for 'to agree' is zgadzać się. The word się is a required part of this dictionary form. While się often translates as 'oneself', many Polish verbs just need it to be complete, even though we only say 'agree' in English.
Why is się separated from the verb zgadzają?
The word się is very flexible, but it generally prefers not to be the very last word in a sentence if it can be avoided. Because of this, it naturally jumps earlier in the sentence, placing itself among the other small words rather than staying right next to zgadzają.
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