Breakdown of Nie mam ręcznika. Czy mogłaby pani przynieść dodatkowy?
czy
[question particle]
pani
madam / Mrs.
mieć
to have
nie
no / not
Questions & Answers about Nie mam ręcznika. Czy mogłaby pani przynieść dodatkowy?
Why do we say mogłaby pani instead of mogłabyś?
The lesson focuses on polite requests. When addressing someone formally, Polish uses the third-person verb form with pan (for a man) or pani (for a woman). Mogłabyś means "could you", but it is informal. Since the speaker is politely addressing a female staff member, they use mogłaby pani, which literally means "could the lady".
Why is the word for towel ręcznika here instead of ręcznik?
The dictionary form is ręcznik. Usually, the object you have takes the accusative case. However, this sentence is negative (nie mam). In Polish, whenever you say you do not have something, the object switches to the genitive case. That is why it becomes ręcznika.
Why does the second sentence use the basic masculine form dodatkowy when the first sentence used the ending -a?
The adjective dodatkowy (extra) refers to the dropped word ręcznik. Since the second sentence is a positive request ("Could you bring..."), the verb przynieść requires the accusative case. For masculine inanimate objects like a towel, the accusative looks exactly like the basic dictionary form. Therefore, we just use dodatkowy.
Could I use the verb przynosić instead of przynieść?