# Chcieli, żebym im sprzedał narkotyki...



## anthox

Witam,

To zdanie pojawiło się na stronie Clozemaster:

"Chcieli, żebym *im* sprzedał narkotyki, ale odmówiłem."

Podane tłumaczenie: "They wanted me to sell drugs *for *them, but I refused." 

Czy to jest poprawne? Na pierwszy rzut oka, pomyślałem sobie, żeby było, "They wanted me to sell drugs *to* them, but I refused." 

Myślę, że wyrażenie "to do X for them" = "robić coś za nich/nie" lub ""robić coś dla nich." 

Dziękuję.


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## Gochna

Masz rację. 

"Chcieli, żebym *im* sprzedał narkotyki" = They wanted me to sell them drugs.

"They wanted me to sell drugs *for *them, but I refused." = Chcieli żebym sprzedał/sprzedawał dla nich narkotyki, ale odmówiłem"


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## anthox

Świetny, dziękuję!


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## jasio

Gochna said:


> "Chcieli, żebym *im* sprzedał narkotyki" = They wanted me to sell them drugs.
> "They wanted me to sell drugs *for *them, but I refused." = Chcieli żebym sprzedał/sprzedawał dla nich narkotyki, ale odmówiłem"



There's also a nuance in Polish, which is missing in English, or perhaps provided by the context:



Gochna said:


> "Chcieli, żebym im sprzed*ał* narkotyki" = They wanted me to sell them drugs.


In Polish a perfective aspect is used, which explicitly points that the phrase describes a one-time and finished action. Ie. some guys arrived, wanted to buy something and went away.



Gochna said:


> Chcieli żebym sprzed*ał* dla nich narkotyki, ale odmówiłem


Again, perfective aspect, one time action: the guys arrived, wanted me to sell something for them, give them the money, and went away. BTW, it's understandable, but in this context perhaps more natural phrasing would be: 


> "Chcieli żebym sprzedał *ich* narkotyki, ale odmówiłem" = 'They wanted me to sell their drugs, but I refused'





Gochna said:


> Chcieli żebym sprzed*awał* dla nich narkotyki, ale odmówiłem"


This time Imperfective aspect is used, Ie. the guys wanted me to sell the drugs regularly, like a permanent job. In this case 'dla nich' is ok. 

Unlike English, where you may leave some things uncertain or explained later, the Polish grammar requires that you are clear about some things right away.


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## zaffy

"They wanted me to sell drugs *for *them, but I refused."   - I can see no reason to use 'for them'. 


Say: "They wanted me to sell them drugs, but I refused."


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## anthox

jasio said:


> Unlike English, where you may leave some things uncertain or explained later, the Polish grammar requires that you are clear about some things right away.



Thanks for pointing this out, I hadn't considered it and it's an interesting nuance.


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## zaffy

jasio said:


> Unlike English, where you may leave some things uncertain or explained later, the Polish grammar requires that you are clear about some things right away.



Sounds interesting, yet I can't think of an example. May I have one?


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## jasio

zaffy said:


> Sounds interesting, yet I can't think of an example. May I have one?



It was meant to be a comment to the examples above, with regards to the perfective/imperfective ascpect. 
Although I remember many more cases giving similar effects from the times when I translated marketing materials (hence a generalisation which I used), it was many years ago and I couldn't provide any specific details right from the top of my head. Pretty often some marketing claims, which were perfeclty valid in English, conveyed a wealth of connotations which were virtually impossible to be fully reflected in Polish because of the grammar restrictions. It often ended with creating cliches.


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