Breakdown of W tym pokoju nie słychać ani muzyki, ani wiatru.
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
w
in / on (a day)
pokój
room
muzyka
music
wiatr
wind
słychać
can be heard
ani
neither / nor
Questions & Answers about W tym pokoju nie słychać ani muzyki, ani wiatru.
Why is there a nie before słychać if we already have ani ... ani (neither ... nor)?
Polish requires double negation. When you use negative words like ani (neither/nor), nigdy (never), or nikt (nobody), you still must put nie in front of the verb. Literally, this sentence says 'one cannot hear neither music nor wind.'
Why do muzyka and wiatr change to muzyki and wiatru?
They are in the Genitive case. In Polish, when a direct object follows a negated verb (because of the nie), it almost always changes from the Accusative case to the Genitive case. This is a very common rule known as the Genitive of negation.
Who is doing the hearing in the word słychać?
No specific person! Słychać is an impersonal verb that translates to 'can be heard' or 'one can hear.' It is a fixed word that does not take personal endings for 'I', 'you', 'he', or 'she'.
Is the comma before the second ani required?
Yes. Polish punctuation rules state that when you use repeating pairs of conjunctions like ani ... ani (neither ... nor) or albo ... albo (either ... or), you must always place a comma before the second part.
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