Divehi to Polish: negation can change a noun without changing its owner
A negative sentence has more than one visible signal
Divehi negative concord can put special morphology on a complement as well as marking the negative predicate. Some of those forms resemble ordinary indefinite or unspecified noun endings. When reading a negative source sentence, do not assume that each such ending independently introduces a new unidentified item. It can help make one negative statement. The target needs to preserve what is denied, rather than assign a separate English-style meaning to every negative-looking component.
Polish likewise permits several expressions to participate in a single negative statement. Swan gives Nikt nic nie wie, meaning no one knows anything. The negative pronouns and the negated verb do not cancel one another. This is useful when translating Divehi negative concord: retaining appropriate Polish negative grammar does not turn the message positive. Nevertheless, the two languages distribute their markers differently, so matching the number of negative words or suffixes would not establish equivalence.
The Polish genitive can be caused by negation
Divehi commonly uses its unmarked direct case for both a subject and a direct object. Polish makes additional case choices, including a genitive in place of an accusative direct object after a negated accusative-taking verb. Consequently, a target noun may change form when an otherwise similar positive source statement becomes negative. That difference need not indicate a different participant or a newly introduced possession relation.
The contrast Mam pieniądze and Nie mam pieniędzy means I have money and I do not have money. The change in the money noun accompanies the target negative construction. Translating a Divehi report of having no money therefore requires more than adding a Polish negative word to a previously generated positive sentence. A genitive form here is not an instruction to invent an owner, even though genitives can express ownership elsewhere.
A missing thing and a negative action are not the same pattern
Divehi distinguishes existential negation with net̊ from nonverbal negation with nūn̊ and ordinary verbal negation with nu-. Those source clues help establish whether the sentence denies existence, rejects an identification, or negates an event. Polish output should keep that proposition intact even when a target case choice arises from its own grammar. A statement that a difficulty does not exist must not become merely a statement that someone failed to perform an action.
The Polish genitive rule also has boundaries. Swan distinguishes direct objects from accusative expressions of duration or amount, and explains that verbs already requiring a different case do not simply switch that case under negation. It would therefore be incorrect to change every noun in a negative translation into a genitive. Locate the source argument and its actual target construction first. Divehi concord affects complements according to one system; Polish object case responds to another. The useful connection is that both require attention beyond the negative particle, while neither permits arbitrary changes to all surrounding nouns.
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