Breakdown of Jeżeli nie zdasz egzaminu, nie kupię ci komputera.
nie
no / not
komputer
computer
ci
to you (sg)
kupić
to buy (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Jeżeli nie zdasz egzaminu, nie kupię ci komputera.
English says "If you do not pass," which is present tense. Why does this Polish sentence use the future tense zdasz?
In English, we use the present tense after "if" for future events (like "If it rains"). In Polish, if the condition refers to a future event, you must actually use the future tense in the conditional clause. Here, zdasz is the future form of the perfective verb zdać (to pass).
Why does this sentence use jeżeli instead of jeśli?
They both mean "if" and are mostly interchangeable. The main difference is stylistic: Polish speakers often prefer jeżeli at the very beginning of a sentence, like in this example, and jeśli in the middle of a sentence. However, using either one is perfectly fine.
Both egzamin (exam) and komputer (computer) have different endings here. Why is that?
They are both taking the Genitive case because of negation. Normally, passing an exam or buying a computer would use the Accusative case for the direct object. However, an important rule in Polish is that when you negate a verb (like nie zdasz and nie kupię), the direct object switches to the Genitive case, making them egzaminu and komputera.
What case is the pronoun ci in, and could I put it at the very end of the sentence?