Breakdown of Dziewczyna była pewna, ale oni nic nie wiedzieli.
być
to be
nie
no / not
wiedzieć
to know
ale
but
oni
they (masculine personal)
nic
nothing
dziewczyna
the girl / the girlfriend
pewny
sure
Questions & Answers about Dziewczyna była pewna, ale oni nic nie wiedzieli.
Why is it wiedzieli and not wiedziali?
The verb wiedzieć (to know) has an irregular past tense where the stem vowel changes. For most forms, it uses an -a- (like on wiedział, ona wiedziała, one wiedziały). But for the masculine personal "they" form (oni), the -a- changes to an -e-, making it wiedzieli.
Why does the sentence use both nic and nie?
Polish requires a double negative. If you use a negative word like nic (nothing), you must also make the verb negative with nie. Literally, this sentence translates to "they didn't know nothing".
Why is it pewna instead of the dictionary form pewny?
The adjective meaning "sure" or "certain" has to match the noun it describes. Since dziewczyna (girl) is a feminine noun, the adjective takes the feminine ending -a, becoming pewna.
Do we have to include the pronoun oni here?
You can often drop pronouns in Polish because the verb ending tells you who is acting (wiedzieli means "they knew"). However, keeping oni here creates a strong, clear contrast between the girl (dziewczyna) and them (oni).
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