Breakdown of Nie załatwię tej sprawy, dopóki wszystkiego nie przemyślisz.
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
wszystko
everything
sprawa
matter
dopóki
as long as / until
załatwić
to sort out
przemyśleć
to think over
Questions & Answers about Nie załatwię tej sprawy, dopóki wszystkiego nie przemyślisz.
Why is there a nie before przemyślisz if the English translation is 'until you think'?
This is the core of how Polish expresses 'until' for future completed actions. The phrase dopóki nie literally translates to 'as long as not'. When you pair dopóki nie with a perfective verb like przemyślisz, it means 'until the moment you finish doing it'. The nie is grammatically required in Polish to create this meaning, even though we don't say 'not' in English.
Why is it tej sprawy instead of the accusative tę sprawę?
The verb załatwię (I will sort out) is negated by the first nie. As a reminder, when a Polish verb that normally takes the accusative case is negated, its direct object must change to the genitive case. So, the accusative tę sprawę becomes the genitive tej sprawy.
Does that same rule explain why we use the genitive wszystkiego instead of the accusative wszystko?
Exactly! The verb przemyślisz (you will think over) is also preceded by nie. Even though this nie is just there to complete the dopóki nie (until) structure, it still counts grammatically as negating the verb. Because of that, the direct object wszystko must also change to the genitive wszystkiego.
Could I put nie right next to dopóki, like dopóki nie wszystkiego przemyślisz?
No, you should keep nie directly in front of the verb it modifies. While English treats 'until' as a single block, Polish splits the structure: dopóki starts the clause, and nie sits right before the verb (nie przemyślisz). It is very natural for other words, like the object wszystkiego, to slip between them.
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