Breakdown of To jest ruina i nic tam nie działa!
to
this
być
to be
i
and
tam
there
nie
no / not
nic
nothing
działać
to function
ruina
ruin
Questions & Answers about To jest ruina i nic tam nie działa!
Why does the sentence use both nic (nothing) and nie (not)?
In Polish, double negation is mandatory! When you use a negative pronoun like nic (nothing), you must also put nie before the verb. So, you literally say 'nothing there not works', which is just how Polish expresses 'nothing works there'.
Why is 'works' translated as działa here instead of pracuje?
Polish has two different verbs for 'to work'. You use pracować when a person or animal is doing a job. You use działać (działa) when a machine, system, or object is functioning. Since we are talking about broken things inside a ruin, działa is the correct choice.
The word ruina is feminine. Why does the sentence start with To jest instead of Ta jest?
When you point something out and say 'This is a [noun]', you always use the fixed phrase to jest, regardless of the noun's gender. You would only use ta if it were directly attached to the noun, like in ta ruina (this ruin).
Could I change the word order to nic nie działa tam?
You could, and you would be understood, but nic tam nie działa sounds much more natural. Polish word order is flexible, but short words like tam (there) usually tuck nicely into the middle of the sentence, right between the negative pronoun (nic) and the negated verb (nie działa).
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