Breakdown of Nie jestem pewien, czy mamy dobry żagiel.
być
to be
mieć
to have
nie
no / not
dobry
good
czy
whether / if (indirect question)
pewien
sure (short form)
żagiel
the sail
Questions & Answers about Nie jestem pewien, czy mamy dobry żagiel.
Why is it pewien here instead of the standard adjective pewny?
Pewien is a special short-form adjective. In Polish, a few adjectives like pewny (sure), ciekawy (curious), and gotowy (ready) have these short forms (pewien, ciekaw, gotów). They are used exclusively as predicates, meaning they come after a verb like to be (here, jestem). You could also say Nie jestem pewny, but pewien is very common and natural in this exact phrase.
If a woman is speaking, does she also use pewien?
English uses 'if' here. Could I use jeśli or jeżeli instead of czy?
No, you must use czy. English uses 'if' for both conditions (If it rains...) and indirect questions (I am not sure if...). Polish strictly separates them. Because you are expressing uncertainty about a yes/no question (Do we have a good sail or not?), you must use czy. You only use jeśli or jeżeli for conditional statements.
Why does dobry żagiel look like it is in the nominative case when it is the object of mamy (we have)?
It is actually in the accusative (direct object) case, but its form does not change. Żagiel (sail) is a masculine inanimate noun. For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative form is identical to the nominative (dictionary) form. Only masculine animate or personal nouns would take the -ego and -a endings here.
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