Breakdown of Będziesz żałować, jeśli nie będziesz się uczyć.
być
to be
nie
no / not
uczyć się
to learn
jeśli
if
żałować
to regret
Questions & Answers about Będziesz żałować, jeśli nie będziesz się uczyć.
In English we say "if you do not study" using the present tense. Why does Polish use będziesz (future tense) after jeśli?
English uses the present tense in "if" clauses even when talking about the future. Polish is more strict about time! Since both the regretting and the lack of studying are happening in the future, Polish uses the future tense in both halves of the sentence: będziesz żałować (you will regret) and jeśli nie będziesz się uczyć (if you will not study).
Why do we use będziesz with the infinitive żałować instead of a single future tense word?
Żałować is an imperfective verb, meaning it describes an ongoing state or action. To make the future tense of imperfective verbs in Polish, you use the future form of "to be", which is będziesz for "you", plus the infinitive of the main verb. You will use this same pattern for uczyć się in the second half of the sentence!
What does the word się do in the second half of the sentence?
It changes the meaning of the verb entirely. The base verb uczyć means "to teach". When you add the reflexive pronoun się, it becomes uczyć się, which means "to learn" or "to study". Without się, this sentence would mean "You will regret it if you do not teach."
Could I put the się at the very end of the sentence and say jeśli nie będziesz uczyć się?
You will sometimes hear it, but it sounds a bit clunky to native speakers. The word się is a short, unstressed pronoun that usually tries to avoid sitting at the very end or the very beginning of a sentence. Tucking it safely between the helping verb będziesz and the infinitive uczyć is the most natural-sounding word order here.
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