Breakdown of W nocy nic nie widzę na korytarzu.
nie
no / not
widzieć
to see
w
in / on (a day)
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
nic
nothing
noc
night
korytarz
corridor
Questions & Answers about W nocy nic nie widzę na korytarzu.
English uses "I see nothing", but this Polish sentence uses both nic and nie. Why?
Polish requires what we call "double negation." Whenever you use a negative pronoun like nic (nothing), nikt (nobody), or nigdzie (nowhere), you must also put nie (not) in front of the verb. Literally, this sentence says "At night I do not see nothing."
Could I change the word order and say nie widzę nic instead?
Yes, nie widzę nic is grammatically correct. However, putting the negative pronoun (nic) before the negated verb (nie widzę) is extremely common in Polish and often sounds more natural to native speakers.
I learned that negated verbs make the object take the Genitive case. Why is it nic here instead of the Genitive form niczego?
Why does the sentence use na korytarzu (on the corridor) instead of w korytarzu (in the corridor)?
In Polish, certain places traditionally take the preposition na (on) even when we would say "in" or "at" in English. Open spaces, public areas, and hallways are part of this group, so you will always say na korytarzu. It is in the Locative case here, which is why it takes the -u ending.
Why is "at night" translated as w nocy? Isn't noc a feminine noun?
Yes, noc is a feminine noun, but it is one of the few that end in a consonant rather than -a. Because we are talking about when something happens using the preposition w (in/at), we need the Locative case. For feminine nouns that end in a consonant, the Locative ending is -y, which makes it w nocy.
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