Breakdown of Nie możemy winić pracownika za tę sytuację.
nie
no / not
ten
this (m)
pracownik
employee
móc
to be able to
za
for (thanks for)
sytuacja
the situation
winić
to blame
Questions & Answers about Nie możemy winić pracownika za tę sytuację.
Why do we use za in this sentence?
The verb winić (to blame) is followed by za plus the Accusative case to express what someone is being blamed for. This is a common pattern in Polish for verbs dealing with gratitude, apologies, or blame, such as dziękować za or przepraszać za.
Why are tę and sytuację in the Accusative case?
They are the object of the preposition za. When za is used to indicate the reason or cause for an action, it always takes the Accusative case. Here, the feminine nominative ta sytuacja becomes tę sytuację.
I often hear Polish people say za tą sytuację. Is tę the correct form here?
Yes, tę is the strictly correct Accusative form of the feminine word ta (this). You will frequently hear native speakers use the Instrumental form tą by mistake in casual everyday speech, but in writing and formal speech, you should always use tę for the Accusative.
Because the sentence is negative (nie możemy), shouldn't the direct object pracownik change to the Genitive case?
It actually is in the Genitive case here! Because pracownik (employee) is a masculine animate noun, its Accusative and Genitive forms are identical: pracownika. The negative nie correctly triggers the Genitive of negation, but the word looks exactly the same as it would in a positive sentence.
Is winić an imperfective or perfective verb?
Winić is an imperfective verb. If you want to talk about the completed action of placing the blame on someone, you would use its perfective equivalent, obwinić.
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