Breakdown of Proszę nic nie mówić, dopóki on się nie uspokoi.
on
he / it (m)
nie
no / not
mówić
to speak
nic
nothing
proszę
please; here you are
dopóki
as long as / until
uspokoić się
to calm down
Questions & Answers about Proszę nic nie mówić, dopóki on się nie uspokoi.
Why is there a nie before uspokoi when the English translation says until he calms down, not until he doesn't calm down?
This is the core of this lesson! To say until a certain event happens, Polish uses dopóki nie followed by a perfective verb. The nie here is an extra (pleonastic) word that doesn't actually make the verb negative. Instead, it pairs with dopóki to mean until the exact moment this action is completed.
Why does the Polish sentence use a future tense verb (uspokoi) when the English uses the present tense calms down?
Uspokoić się (to calm down) is a perfective verb, which means it focuses on the completion of the action. Perfective verbs do not have a present tense; their conjugated forms act as the future tense. Because you are waiting for an action that will be completed in the future, Polish logically uses the future tense here, whereas English grammar happens to default to the present tense.
As a refresher, why do we say nic nie mówić instead of just nic mówić?
Polish strictly uses double negation. Whenever you use a negative word like nic (nothing), nikt (nobody), or nigdy (never), you must also put nie before the verb. It literally translates to to not say nothing, which is the standard Polish way to express not to say anything.
Could we change the word order and put the reflexive pronoun się at the very end of the sentence: dopóki on nie uspokoi się?
You could, but it sounds unnatural. The short word się likes to tuck into the middle of a clause. It is usually placed right after the first stressed word (like the subject on) or right before the verb. Ending a sentence with się is generally avoided in Polish unless you want to put a strong, specific emphasis on the verb itself.
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