Breakdown of Dzisiaj nie mam ani siły, ani ochoty na spacer.
mieć
to have
nie
no / not
dzisiaj
today
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
spacer
walk (m)
ani
neither / nor
siła
strength
ochota
desire
Questions & Answers about Dzisiaj nie mam ani siły, ani ochoty na spacer.
Why is there a nie before mam? Doesn't ani ... ani already mean "neither ... nor"?
Yes, but Polish requires "double negation" (negative concord). When you use negative words like ani (neither/nor), you must also negate the main verb with nie. A literal translation of this Polish sentence is "Today I don't have neither strength nor desire...".
Why do we use siły and ochoty instead of their basic dictionary forms siła and ochota?
Because the verb is negated (nie mam). The verb mieć (to have) normally takes the Accusative case for its object, but in Polish, whenever a direct object is negated, it changes to the Genitive case. Both siła and ochota are feminine nouns, so they change their ending from -a to -y.
Why is there a comma before the second ani?
In Polish punctuation, you must always place a comma before the second half of a repeating conjunction. This rule applies to ani ... ani (neither ... nor) as well as pairs like albo ... albo (either ... or).
Is na spacer affected by the negation in the sentence?
No, it isn't. The phrase na spacer (for a walk) uses the Accusative case because it follows the preposition na to show the purpose of an activity. The rule where negation changes a noun to the Genitive case only applies to the direct objects of the verb (siły and ochoty), not to prepositional phrases.
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