Breakdown of Dzieciom nie wolno głaskać obcych psów bez pytania właściciela.
pies
dog
dziecko
child
pytanie
question / asking
nie wolno
it is not allowed (+ infinitive)
obcy
stranger / foreign
bez
without
właściciel
owner
głaskać
to pet
Questions & Answers about Dzieciom nie wolno głaskać obcych psów bez pytania właściciela.
Why is the sentence starting with dzieciom instead of dzieci?
The word wolno (allowed) is an impersonal predicate. In Polish, instead of saying 'Children are not allowed', the structure is literally 'To children it is not allowed'. This requires the person experiencing the rule to be in the dative case, so dzieci becomes dzieciom.
Why is the object obcych psów in the genitive case? Doesn't głaskać take the accusative?
Yes, głaskać normally takes the accusative case. However, because the main predicate is negated (nie wolno), it triggers the genitive of negation rule. This forces the direct object of the attached infinitive verb to change from accusative to genitive.
Why is the imperfective verb głaskać used here instead of the perfective pogłaskać?
When you use nie wolno to express a general rule or strict ban (meaning 'you must never do this'), you should use an imperfective verb. Using a perfective verb would sound strange here, as if banning the successful completion of a one-time action rather than the action itself.
Why does the word for asking, pytanie, change to pytania here?
Because it comes right after the preposition bez (without). This preposition always forces the noun that follows it into the genitive case, which turns the verbal noun pytanie into pytania.
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