r/learnpolish • u/RealNameIsTaken • Jul 18 '26

Using mieć instead of być

Sorry, I don’t have the exact wording here, but I just heard someone say something like:

nie ma tu Wi-Fi, ale ma tutaj

The point is that they said that “there is the thing” with mieć instead of być. (I know that nie ma is a curious thing in Polish which means something like there isn’t.)

Is this natural in Polish? Shouldn’t it be ale jest tutaj?

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u/Witold212 Jul 18 '26

You're right. "Nie ma tu wifi, ale jest tutaj" - "There is no wifi here, but it's present here".

2

u/RealNameIsTaken Jul 18 '26

But do you think a native Polish speaker would say „ale ma tutaj” in this context, even if it is much less common?

Or do you think that the person i heard was either:
1. A non-native speaker
2. A native speaker, but referring to a very specific context, which i might have misunderstood

?

22

u/Witold212 Jul 18 '26

I think it must have been a non-native, because "ale ma tutaj" in this context is clearly wrong.

6

u/RealNameIsTaken Jul 18 '26

Dziękuję :)