Language / Correct form of BYĆ. Please help! [96]


Just to be clear on terminology, pronouns are words such as ja, ty, wy, my (English I, you, we, etc..). Jestem, jesteś etc.. are the various conjugations of the verb.

Language / Correct form of BYĆ. Please help! [96]

no don't worry - "być" is just the verb "be" in the infinitive form, i.e. "to be".

Pretty much sounds like the English word "bitch"

Language / I know "się" is the only reflexive personal pronoun..but "jak się masz?" [34]

Sure, reflexive is just in English words like myself, yourself, herself, themselves etc..
In Polish for once things are simpler than in English - you just use "się".
OK I lied, it's not totally that simple - you also sometimes use "siebie" and "sobie".
"siebie" is the emphatic form which follows prepositions (compare with cię and ciebie) and sobie is the dative form (off the top of my head - I might be wrong).

While we're at it - sometimes you will here "se" in slang and spoken Polish, e.g. kup se samochód - buy yerself a car

You were close - you looked up "mieć" in the dictionary but you should have looked up "mieć się" which is a different verb as per my earlier post.

Language / Use of prefixes in f.s tense/rules for forming them? [23]


Are you asking about the future simple here? Because there is no future simple in Polish. Polish verbs are simpler in that they don't have all the different forms like we do in English (e.g. I will say, I will have said, I will be saying etc..)

You either have future perfective or future imperfective. To answer your question then, it doesn't come down to which prefix to add, it comes down to using either the perfective or imperfective in the correct form.

E.g. - 1st person singular future of "to speak"

using the imperfective (mówić) is "będę mówił"
using the perfective (powiedzić) is simply "powiem"

I think the confusion about adding prefixes comes down to the fact that often (but not always and certainly not regularly) the perfective partner looks like the imperfective verb with a prefix

Language / I know "się" is the only reflexive personal pronoun..but "jak się masz?" [34]


I don't agree with that. It hasn't been mentioned that the word "się" has other uses too than just the reflexive. Sometimes it is used to make impersonal constructs such as:

tak się robi - that's how it's done

and sometimes it simply changes the meaning of a verb as in this case:

mieć - to have
mieć się - to be, to feel

so the literal translation to English of "jak się masz" is either "how do you feel" or "how are you".

Study / Recognised qualifications: Polish as a foreign language? [3]

Here you go:

Polish exams for foreigners:
british-in-poland.blogspot.com/2008/03/polish-exams-for-foreigners.html

Language / Correct form of BYĆ. Please help! [96]


I learnt Polish (and am still learning) from zero. I agree with the consensus that introducing these old verb forms to a total beginner is just totally confusing.

I don't think it's helpful to teach someone archaic forms that aren't used or aren't going to be heard, when the student will still have to learn the modern forms anyway. At least not to a total beginner.

Also, it is a very alien concept to a native English speaker such as myself that there are mobile particles such as "m" and "ś" that can detach and join pronouns. I think that learning that is beyond total beginner level.

Australia / Can Polish Citizens work / travel in Australia? [9]

That will depend on how long you are going for and how much money she will have to live on whilst you are there.

If you are just going for a few months and she won't need to work then you will both have a great time. If not then it doesn't sound like a very good plan to me.

Language / How do you form commands in Polish? [4]


In English this is called the imperative. I think there is a general rule - you take the 3rd person plural form of the verb and then drop the "ą" ending. For example:

chodzić is chodzą in the 3rd person plural, so you need chodz as your base for the imperative.

Likewise słuchać goes to słuchają, thus słuchaj. Also jeść goes to jedzą thus jedz.

I read a good lesson on this but can't remember where - I am sure it's covered in the Uni of Pittsburgh lessons somewhere though.

Language / misleading differences between Polish and English languages [92]

When my Mum came over from the UK to visit recently she was in a shop and said "super duper" whilst looking at some of the products, meaning "very good" or "great".

I explained to her that "super dupa" means something a little different in Polish....

Life / How will I be treated in Poland by Polish people? I'm an English person. [26]

I've lived in southern Poland for about 18 months now and have not had anything but good experiences from people.

It can get a bit tiring hearing the same response when they realise you're English though - either they are really keen to know what made you want to come to Poland and you have to explain that the UK really isn't paved with gold and that higher wages means higher costs of living, or if they are middle-aged women they end up twisting your ear for 10 minutes telling you all about their son/daughter in Ireland and what he/she's been doing there for the last 3 years....

Having said that I haven't lived in/near any big cities, so maybe an Englishmen here is more of a novelty.

Study / Polish Language School Scams? Clarity Required! [28]


There is some info on this website about it:

British Embassy - employment

britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1175584237202

It says "Subject to certain conditions, the remuneration of a visiting professor, teacher or researcher will not be taxed in the country visited for a period not exceeding two years".

There is a link there to more detail about it but I was too lazy to read it...

Language / misleading differences between Polish and English languages [92]


I would take offence too and I am from London. I think that calling someone a cock when not intended as an insult is probably very regional to where you are from. I have heard of it before though - is that from Lancashire? (Or whereever Coronation Street is set anyway...)

Life / When to greet strangers in Poland or not.. [30]


Ha ha. Well spotted. It's because my Grandfather was Polish. He came to London after WW2. Like my parents though I was born and raised in the UK. I have just found out that this means apparently I am 'Polish' too.

Life / When to greet strangers in Poland or not.. [30]


Maybe my point wasn't clear - what I am getting at is how comes Poles say hello to each other specifically (and bizarrely to me) at the doctors, but apparently nowhere else.

UK, Ireland / Maddogs and Englishmen. [18]


Probably a few like that, I know there are a lot of us teaching English over here, but there is also another group of people (such as myself) who are self-employed or who have started businesses here with a view to taking advantage of the growing economy. I hope I don't therefore fall in to the category of no real ambition and no prospect of an increase in income!

Life / Can you keep a right hand drive car in Poland? [57]

Yeah I wasn't prepared to keep driving back for the MOT so I sold my UK vehicle and bought a Polish one.
Interesting point about the tax. I guess if you don't pay you will get the instant fine, and if you declare the vehicle off-road you would get in trouble when you come off the ferry.

But if you can send me the details I will put them on my blog as i have lots of articles about this sort of stuff.

Cheers.

Life / Can you keep a right hand drive car in Poland? [57]

do you care about fully comp insurance or fire and theft? If not then your UK insurer already covers you for the legally required minimum of 3rd party only. All insurance bought in the EU is valid for the legal minimum in all other EU countries.

Life / Moving to Poland next year, want to bring my Nissan Skyline [46]


No. You can't register it period. I know because I tried to do it myself with my RHD van from England. I have blogged about it here.

If you know someone who has registered a RHD vehicle in Poland in the last 3 years then get them to post on here how they did it because under the current rules it's not possible.

Life / Moving to Poland next year, want to bring my Nissan Skyline [46]

No you can't register a RHD car in Poland. The only workaround I can think of is to register it in another EU country where you are allowed to register RHD vehicles (such as the UK where we drive on the left anyway, or possibly France where they drive on the right but I believe allow RHDs to be registered). You would then have to return there annually to keep the documents up to date (e.g. technical inspection).

That would be a lot of hassle and expense though as other people have already said....

Language / Confusion about genitive plural [30]

Thanks for the quick answers.


Yeah I guess that sums it up - nothing is regular or predicatable in Polish (at least that's how it seems).

Thanks again.

Work / I'm moving to poland; I got sick of the London lifestyle. Find work? [27]

Yes - exactly. Sorry when I meant "want to buy old cars" I really meant more that they don't have as much money for newer cars like other countries...

Work / I'm moving to poland; I got sick of the London lifestyle. Find work? [27]

you could keep the car in Germany but in Germany they also have the system where you have to be registered to an address (anmeldung). Like in Poland, to register the car you need to show them your residence registration. I guess it could work if you have a property there or family there or had a trusted friend...

If you are going to go back and forth in the UK for MOT's then you don't necessarily even need a left hooker, although I guess it makes sense to get one if you find one.

Regarding insurance - I presume you are talking about fully comp? Because you could just get 3rd party only insurance with any company and it will be valid across the entire EU.

Work / I'm moving to poland; I got sick of the London lifestyle. Find work? [27]


It's the same system - importing any vehicle you need to pay VAT at the urząd skarbowy. If you owned the vehicle abroad and used it there when you were living there then you don't pay tax as long as you write a declaration that that was the case (just a flat fee of 160 złoty).

If you just bought the car abroad and didn't live/use it there then you will need the receipt from when you bought it. I don't know what the tax rate is though.

There is a thread (in German though) in detail about bringing cars from Germany here:

polenimpott.de/polen-forum-viewtopic_2427-13.html
polenimpott.de/polen-forum-viewtopic_2427-13.html

Hope that helps.

Work / I'm moving to poland; I got sick of the London lifestyle. Find work? [27]

Hi

I did exactly the same as you 2 years ago - tired of London so moved my stuff (4 van trips) to Poland where we now have a house.

I reckon each van trip cost about £300 in fuel and ferry tickets. Cheaper than a UK removal company and doing it myself meant nothing got lost or broken. I didn't know any Polish people who were able to help but that could be another good option.

I tried to register a right hand drive van in Poland and you can't - it's not allowed because you won't pass the technical inspection. But you can drive your UK car over here if you keep your UK plates. See here: [british-in-poland.blogspot.com/2008/02/english-cars-in-poland.html] - English cars in Poland.

As has already been said, the only way is to convert the vehicle to LHD, but that is so expensive (new dashboard and other parts... not to mention the labour) that it's just not worth it.

Selling your car here will be difficult - again, who wants to buy a car they can't register? Either buy a crap van before you come (which is what I did) and scrap it when you are done with it, or plan to drive back to the UK one last time to sell it.

I have blogged all about this, driving in Poland, importing UK motorbikes, registration etc.. on my blog if you are interested - british-in-poland.blogspot.com.

Sorry I can't comment about getting work here because I haven't tried and don't have any experience of that.

Good luck with everything though!


I think another reason used cars are more expensive is simply because of supply and demand - quite simply more people in Poland want to buy old cars and therefore they hold their value better.

As a result of this it becomes profitable to buy used cars from France/Germany/Italy and import them - especially damaged cars which Poles can then repair.

You will see lots of Polish cars towing trailers back from France or Germany with crashed wrecks on the back - anyone been on the E40 motorway lately?

I have a cousin who makes money on the side by buying motorbikes in the UK and cars in Germany, bringing them here to Poland and selling them on.

Law / Does anyone have experience of getting a karta pobytu from Krakow? [13]

well today I went to Kraków and applied for my karta pobytu. What a joke this system is. I have blogged about it here in case anyone else has to do the same in Krakow again.

[british-in-poland.blogspot.com/2008/03/5-year-registration-karta-pobytu.html] - Polish residence card - karta pobytu from Krakow

Australia / Can Polish Citizens work / travel in Australia? [9]

British passport holders such as you also need a visa to work in Oz. You don't mention which visa you have got or are going to get...

If you are going on an Australian Working Holiday Visa that allows you to be in Oz for 12 months and do temporary work then no, Poles are not entitled to that visa.

UK, Ireland / Question for Polish people working in UK? [15]

Hi Michal

I am curious - what do you see as wrong with the EU expansion?

My view is that the Poles go where the work is, if loads of them have gone to the UK then obviously there is/was a demand there for workers and that helps the British economy at the end of the day. Also all these people living there are paying rent, consuming beer and spending money, again helping the economy.

I personally am glad the EU has expanded. This makes trade between EU countries easier - again this benefits Britain. As a Brit myself it has also made life a lot easier for me to 'go the other way' and emigrate to Poland.