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| każdy and żaden http://forum.dict.pl/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14799 |
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| Autor: | wixer [ 2011-03-13, 02:13 ] |
| Tytuł: | każdy and żaden |
I'm a bit confused by the Polish words każdy and żaden. I think I'm correct in saying that the following pairs of sentences have the same meaning: Żadna dziewczyna nie lubi takiej muzyki Każda dziewczyna lubi taką muzykę Żaden aktor mu nie imponuje Każdy aktor mu imponuje Żaden kot nie lubi mleka Każdy kot lubi mleko You get my drift with these. What I don't understand is why use the complicated żaden construction ,when każdy seems a much simpler way of saying the same thing ? 
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| Autor: | Seraph [ 2011-03-13, 07:02 ] |
| Tytuł: | Re: każdy and żaden |
Actually, these sentences have opposite meanings, not the same. To translate them into English, they would read like this: No girl likes such music. Every girl likes such music. No actor impresses him. Every actor impresses him. No cat likes milk. Every cat likes milk. To sum up, "zaden" (sorry I don't have Polish characters on the computer I'm on) means "none" while "kazdy" means "every". And with "zaden" you use double negative. Same as with "nikt" ("nobody"). Let me know if you have any more questions about this. |
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| Autor: | wixer [ 2011-03-14, 00:11 ] |
| Tytuł: | Re: każdy and żaden |
Oh, I see now. I know that żaden means none and każdy means every, but it was the double negative with żaden that confused me. I thought they somehow cancelled each other out. A bit like the English ' no cat doesn't like milk' could me that every cat does like milk, if you see what I mean. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to give me such a clear answer and explaining it so well 
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| Autor: | Seraph [ 2011-03-15, 06:58 ] |
| Tytuł: | Re: każdy and żaden |
Oh I see why the double negative confused you. In Polish double negative is grammatically correct (unlike in English), just like in, say, French. And you're welcome, glad I could help. I mean, props to you for even trying, my spouse gave up learning Polish long time ago! |
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| Autor: | wixer [ 2011-03-16, 01:23 ] |
| Tytuł: | Re: każdy and żaden |
Believe it or not I have been learning Polish for nearly 4 years now . During that time I have received much friendly help and encouragement from users of this forum. I am familiar with the Polish double negative in phrases like 'nikt tu nic nie robi ', so I should have known better really. However, use of the double negative is a little confusing and Polish is a difficult language to learn for English speakers anyway in my opinion. Thanks again for taking the time to answer my question. I have many more questions to ask as you will see in the coming weeks and months 
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