Breakdown of Chyba brakuje mi tu cienkiego konturu.
tu
here
mi
to me
brakować
to lack / to be missing
chyba
probably, I think
cienki
thin
kontur
the outline
Questions & Answers about Chyba brakuje mi tu cienkiego konturu.
Why is chyba translated as "I guess" here instead of "probably"?
Chyba is a versatile particle that expresses uncertainty. While it frequently translates to "probably", in everyday spoken Polish it is very commonly used to mean "I guess", "I think", or "it seems". Here, the speaker is expressing a subjective feeling about a design or drawing, so "I guess" captures the casual, conversational tone better than "Probably I lack...".
Why do we use mi (to me) and the "it" form brakuje instead of saying "I lack" directly?
The verb brakować (to lack / to be missing) requires an impersonal construction. In Polish, you don't say "I lack something"; instead, the literal structure is "It is lacking to me". That's why we use the dative pronoun mi (to me) alongside the 3rd-person singular verb brakuje (it is lacking).
Why is the phrase for "thin outline" in the form cienkiego konturu?
It is in the genitive case because of the verb brakować. Verbs that express lacking, needing, or missing almost always require their object to take the genitive case. The basic nominative phrase is cienki kontur, which changes to cienkiego konturu.
Could the short pronoun mi be placed somewhere else in this sentence?
Yes, you could also say Chyba mi brakuje tu cienkiego konturu. Because mi is an unstressed pronoun, it cannot start a sentence and likes to "hide" right after the first or second stressed word. Putting it right after chyba or right after brakuje both sound perfectly natural.
Learn Chyba brakuje mi tu cienkiego konturu and more in Polish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free