Why is it “nie mam pieniędzy” in Polish?

Say mam pieniądze — “I have money.” Now deny it, and the noun itself has to change: nie mam pieniędzy. In Polish, negating a verb isn’t just adding nie; the direct object switches from the accusative into the genitive case. That one lament — “again I have no money!” — is probably the sentence where most learners meet this rule, because money is what people complain about not having.

The pattern is completely regular: mam czas → nie mam czasu, widzę problem → nie widzę problemu, ma pomysł → nie ma pomysłu. The clip even shows the contrast in one breath: nie mam pieniędzy (genitive, negated) but skąd te pieniądze wziąć — “where to get that money from” (no negation, so pieniądze stays in its base form).