# Do we have any native Polish speakers here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2021, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-native-polish-speakers-here/948072 "2021-08-05T03:48:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-native-polish-speakers-here/948072/1 "2021-08-05T03:48:17Z")
I have seen the following in Polish in an email: Awanturę robi się temu According to google this translates as “you make a fuss about it”. But this is ambiguous about whether this is a _direction_ (eg I am asking you to make a fuss about it) or perhaps a _criticism_ (eg “you are making a fuss about it”). Is there anything in the original Polish that gives a clue as to the implication? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-native-polish-speakers-here/948072/2 "2021-08-05T03:49:27Z")
Paging @pulykamell , whom I believe is pretty fluent in it. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-native-polish-speakers-here/948072/3 "2021-08-05T04:24:17Z")
As is @purplehorseshoe. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-native-polish-speakers-here/948072/4 "2021-08-05T13:09:12Z")
I will defer to a better authority— while Polish is my first language technically, it’s been supplanted with English from about age seven — but this sentence is not an imperative/command, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s a passive construction that literally is something like “a disruption/row/upset/fuss is made [to this].” I am unsure of the dative “this” at the end. Perhaps @purplehorsehoe can help. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-native-polish-speakers-here/948072/5 "2021-08-05T13:16:06Z")
Thanks pulykamell. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-native-polish-speakers-here/948072/6 "2021-08-05T13:49:15Z")
Nah, he is correct - it’s a passive sentence. “A fuss is being made.” Not an imperative command. (Context would help, but without context clues, that’s the best I can do.) ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-have-any-native-polish-speakers-here/948072/7 "2021-08-05T14:40:24Z")
Thanks purplehorseshoe. There really isn’t much context to give. It’s a sentence on its own. Anyway, your translation fits perfectly with the situation so I’ll go with that.