Breakdown of On nie będzie grał w tenisa, bo musi remontować dom.
być
to be
dom
house
on
he / it (m)
nie
no / not
grać
to play
musieć
to have to
bo
because
remontować
to renovate
w
at (playing a game)
tenis
tennis
Questions & Answers about On nie będzie grał w tenisa, bo musi remontować dom.
Why do we use grał here instead of the infinitive grać?
In Polish, the future imperfective tense can be formed in two ways: using the future form of być (to be) plus the infinitive (będzie grać), or być plus the l-participle (będzie grał). Both are perfectly correct and mean the exact same thing! Since the subject is on (he), we use the masculine singular l-participle grał.
Why is it w tenisa and not just w tenis? Isn't tennis an inanimate object?
You are right that masculine inanimate nouns usually look exactly like their dictionary form when used in the accusative case. However, names of sports and games in Polish are a special exception. They are treated grammatically as 'animate' masculine nouns, which means they take the -a ending in the accusative case when you play them.
Why doesn't the negative word nie change dom to the genitive case?
The rule that a negative verb changes its direct object to the genitive case only applies to the specific verb being negated. Here, the negation nie only applies to the first clause (będzie grał). The second part of the sentence (musi remontować dom) is a new, positive clause. Therefore, dom stays in the accusative case.
Why is remontować in the infinitive form, rather than a future tense form?
Because it directly follows the modal verb musi (he has to). Just like in English, when you use a modal verb like must, can, or want, the action that follows is always in its basic infinitive form. The fact that the house renovation will happen in the future is already clear from the rest of the sentence.
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