Language / I like and I dislike... [3]

Lubię + Accusative or Verb (Lubię koty; Lubię jeździć na nartach)
Nie lubię + Genetive or Verb (Nie lubię kotów; Nie lubię wspinać się po górach)

Life / A few questions about the bus system [13]


Be careful though! Unless you haven't obtained a such one, from the 1st of January 2010 magnetic passes (Warszawska Karta Miejska) have to be personalised with your photo put onto it (I haven't re-changed my old one yet, so no advise from me until then).


You may buy a pass which is either un-validated (then you can wait with the validation until the time you want to use your pass) or have it validated at the purchase (they often ask you if you want them to validate it for you). If you are re-loading your old pass within its present period of validity for the same-time next period, it's validated automatically (the validation is being prolonged for this next period). If later, you again must have it validated or validate it for yourself. It's always good to check by holding the pass onto the ticket machine (reader) as the reader reads a pass or validates an un-validated one.

It's important to validate your pass or have it validated at the purchase! Once I re-loaded my 30-day pass, but forgot to validate it. I was using it all the month thinking I was OK. I wasn't, and if a controller had come to check, I would have had to pay a fine as my pass was not valid. When I went to re-load it for a next period, the assistant at the post-office was unable to do it since it was charged and not activated (validated). I bought a new pass as they couldn't explain why the machine cannot re-load my pass!!!

Language / What's the difference between 'swoje' & 'moje'? [35]


Well, the essential truth about "swój" is that it can be replaced (in certain sentences) by a respective possessive pronoun except for the third person of both singular and plural.

Ja kocham swoją [moją] żonę.
Ty kochasz swoją [twoją] żonę.
On kocha swoją [----] żonę. (On kocha jego żonę means something different.)

My kochamy swoje [nasze] żony.
Wy kochacie swoje [wasze] żony.
Oni kochają swoje [----] żony. (Oni kochają ich żony means something different.)

The "his" in an English out-of-context sentence "He loves his wife" would certainly mean "swoją". Of course, there may exist a context to the sentence which would make this "his" mean "jego" (in the sense: He loves his friend's wife). Thus, for the third person, the English his/her would mean either "swoją/swojego" or "jego/jej" in Polish.

News / Poland's place in changing world order? [74]


It is not. I remember the time back in the 1970s when everyone said it was a matter of time when Japan overtakes the US in economic prosperity and almost anything else. Now Japan is in constant crisis and never has been so innovative as the US.


What do you mean by the "mercy of fate and avarice of neighbours"? Another pact of Ribbentrop-Molotov? But Merkel is not like Hitler, while Putin (or his political alter ego Medvedev) is not like Stalin. Or do you think they are?


What do you mean by saying this? That the Russian bear is never going to fall into its winter sleep, and that it is only waiting to devour the innocent lamb "Ukraine", then yet another innocent lamb "Poland', whereas Bundeskanzlerin Merkel along with the whole EU will readily agree to this, happy to keep the hungry, but now satisfied animal on the Oder/Neisse border? But if you think so, I would agree, the EU on the military front is a misunderstanding; the only powerful grizzli to stop the Russian bear is the US!

Language / What's the difference between 'swoje' & 'moje'? [35]


You are 100% right. I've just given that example to make people realize that the use of "swój" is not so obvious (what is right of swój=mój, isn't necesarilly right of swój=jego) and cannot be explained by one simple rule.

Language / What's the difference between 'swoje' & 'moje'? [35]

When the subject of the sentence is refering to an object of his, he may use either of the two possesive pronouns:
Dałem mu (a) moją książkę.
Dałem mu (b) swoją książkę.
Both are correct, although the (b) is used more frequently.

"Czy to jest swój telefon?" is incorrect as the possesive pronoun swój doesn't refer here to an equivalent subject. On the other hand, the sentence "Czy masz swój telefon?" which equals to "Czy ty masz swój telefon?" is correct, just as the sentence "Czy masz twój telefon?" will also be correct, though rarely heard (ty is equivalent to twój/swój).

Dał mi swój telefon would mean: A gave me A's telephone.
Dał mi jego telefon would mean: A gave me B's telephone (!), though according to the rule given should also mean "A gave me A's telephone" (!). Here, the use of "swój" has much more of a differentiating power than in the preceding example!

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Language / Numbers in the Polish Language [39]


But how do they know if it's old zloty or new zloty? Neither of the Polish banknotes has "new" or "old" on the notes. But true, 10 000 zloty must look strange when you compare it to the present rate of exchange. You should ask yourself: what country issues such a face value if it's 2 350 euros if it were new zloties?

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]


Just wanted to correct his figure a little bit (adding "to be exact"). I thanked him for that source and next I started to explore his source a little further ...


You are addressing these words to me, whereas in fact I was mocking the idea of Claritaslux who persistently links the property prices in Kraków to it being a freezing place ...

---------------

I have assumed people on this forum are clever ...

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]


It is 7,391 PLN, up 0,6% from 7,345 on the previous month, to be precise.

Than you for this source. Anyway, it proves that Kraków was hit the worst over the last year, with the highest slump of prices in Poland (-12,6%). But may we call that a crash? In some areas (Białystok, Katowice) prices are even up on the previous year by 1,4-2,2% (4,000 - 4,500 PLN at present). May we call them less freezy than Kraków? I don't think so, Białystok is certainly the coldest voivodship capital in Poland.

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]

You mean how very soon? (a) within a month; (b) 1 to 3 months; (c) 3 to 9 months; (d) 9 to 24 months; (e) over 24 months.

Will you tell us kindly your prediction, please?

Language / Polish grammar exercises from hell [130]


You can find it (along with an explanation) in the message number 49 (page 2) of this thread.

Language / Polish grammar exercises from hell [130]


As I said, I only have looked at it en passant ... I promise to look at it more thoroughly, but to explain such a problem should probably need consulting several resources. Meanwhile, please find and read my joke about the two Russians having shot a bear and the two Americans commenting on it in which is in this thread and which illustrates pretty well the subjectal function of the noun(s) in genetive.

Language / Polish grammar exercises from hell [130]

(i) przybyło nowych książek - we have more new books
(ii) przybyło mu lat - he is getting older
(iii) przybył mi jeden kilogram - I gained one kilogram
(iv) przybyło wody - water level has risen

You are asking difficult questions, indeed ... At a glimpse, it can be observed that in the examples (i), (ii) and (iv) the nouns are in the genetive, whereas in (iii) the noun is in the nominative.

"Przybyło" does seem subjectless for the plural and for the "uncountables" like woda, though it doesn't for the singular: przybył mu jeden kilogram = jeden kilogram [subject] mu przybył.

Language / "Polski" or "Polskiego" - Grammar help [19]

Polskie forum for that matter, but it would sound as concerning all Polish matters, so I would advise "Forum języka polskiego" or "Sekcja języka polskiego" instead.

News / THE HOMINTERN IN POLAND? [80]


This strange theory persists, as having been based on the similarity between the Latin word "slave" and the English word "Slav". No folk or tribe assigned themselves a name that was derogatory or insulting. The English "Slavs" follows their original name "Sławianie/Słowianie" and has nothing in common with the Latin word "slave". The name "Słowianie/Sławianie" may take origin from either "sława" [fame] or "słowo" [word] or from a name of an unknown place.

Language / "Mieć doła" - moron speech? [6]


Indeed, the older generation would say "jestem w dołku". But the younger generation invent new ways of saying old things, so "mam doła" is quite often heard around. Another phrase of this type, the "mam stresa" is frequently used by the most famous Polish unemployed in the comedy series "Świat według Kiepskich", although I've never heard it in real life except for the usage in the humouristic sense splashed around by the film itself.

History / Marek Edelman (1922 - 2009) [14]


He was educated in Aberdeen, Scotland, and is Scottish. Speaking in his defence, I don't think he meant anything anti-Jewish in his comment, so your reaction seems highly exaggerated.

We may all feel very proud in Poland of Marek Edelman. By the way, Marek Edelman was not well "seen" by his compatriots in Israel as I got to know from an interview given to the "Rzeczpospolita" daily by one of the former Israeli ministers of defence (sorry, I forgot his name). There are less and less public figures of Jewish origin in Poland, another two of them as often seen on Polish TV as Edelman is Szymon Szurmiej and his magnificent wife Gołda Tencer, a most formidable couple of the artistic world.

Vive la culture juive en Pologne!


La resistance of Marek Edelman againt Radio Maryja (God bless Radio Maryja and its fervent supporters: "moherowe berety" and "włóczkowe czapki") or,

la resistance of Radio Maryja against Jews who are the culprits of all the sins in the world (God bless the Jews to one of whom you made your son Jesus) ?

Study / How to practice french in Warsaw? [7]

A there's a "Librairie Française" in Warsaw ...

Language / Pronouncing final -ą as -oł (Czech infleunce?) [14]


This is particularly ugly, nevetheless it may perhaps be a feature of some local dialects (???). This method of pronouncing the final ą in standard Polish is best ridiculed in the following dialogue:

- (someone is asking you) Po co? [meaning: dlaczego? w jakim celu?]
- (the person is replying ridiculously in substandard Polish) Poco to sie nogi noco! [meaning: Pocą to się nogi nocą].


This is much more common than the former. A surprisingly high number of Polish politicians pronounce the final ą like that. One of them is Lech Wałęsa, another is one (if not both) of the Kaczyński brothers who were brought up in an "intelligentsia" family of Warsaw, and what is more, the most "intelligentsia" district of Warsaw, Żoliborz. Personally, I find this manner annoying, suggesting that the person is an uneducated fellow, which is obvious in the case of Lech Wałęsa, but is not in the case of the Kaczyński brothers and other politicians from the whole spectrum of Poland's political parties.

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]

... and while the Polish real estate market is heading for a crash, British house prices record first rise in 19 months in October this year with the average house price now at £162,038, still 13 per cent lower than their October 2007 peak of £186,044 ...

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]

I wonder where are the mods in this and other threads. They are only too willing to erase an innocent sentence in Swedish, French (or for that matter Polish in a wrong place), but they remain silent when it comes to someone who seems to be a little insane, posts everywhere on the forum and has nothing more to contribute than to communicate his obsession of a possible real estate market crash in Poland.

Real Estate / Prices of apartments in Krakow are collapsing further down in 2010-2011 [150]


They will not go for holidays in Stockholm either. Stockholm has not got the climate of the French Riviera.

You seem to be very frustrated about Kraków, yet all your thoughts here on the forum are about Kraków. Isn't it perhaps a matter of personal disappointment? If so, it is understandable and I am sorry for you because of that. But why won't you try to think of another place, move somewhere else and forget Kraków altogether. Just give yourself another chance; if anyone may advise you anything, I might think they will be just happy to do so.

Real Estate / 15 reasons why the Polish real estate market will crash soon [258]


Yes, although he raises an interesting point, he looses credibility by posting under different names.

For that reason, I don't believe in his comparisons of property prices in different countries.

He links property prices to the average pay only, while the price is basically the function of a balance between demand and supply which fact he completely ignores. I think he suffers from the condition called "property_price/avarage_pay fixation", condition which cannot be easily cured with the help of other PF posters.

Language / mój - moja [28]


Few masculine nouns end in -a, so they are exceptions to the rule which says that masculine nouns normally end in a consonant.

Language / Polish Language Pronunciation - Example Words and Phrases [178]


That's the point indeed. The "convention" of writing down the sound "ć" comprises in fact these three points:
1. ć when followed by a consonant or at the end of a word: ćpać, choćby
2. ci when followed by a vowel: ciastko, cię, uciecha
3. the particular case occurs when c is followed by the "i" and the "i" is followed by a consonant or by nothing else: nici, tyci, cicho, poczciwy, in which case we may say the sound "ć" is written as "c" (sic!) or we just write the single "i" where we should indeed write the double "i".

If the convention assumed that the writing of the sound "ć" everywhere it is pronounced as such should be the "ć", the above examples would be written as follows:

ćpać, choćby, ćastko, ćę, ućecha, nići, ćicho, poczćiwy,
that is in the way the literary group called "futurists" proposed in the 1920s.

Language / Accent marks in Polish language [22]


I think you are right. The ę said too distinctly at the end of a word would sound very silly. Yet, people who speak good Polish ("Queen's" Polish) will usually (and unconsciously) pronounce it with this little, quite moderate, "extra" which is undoubtedly beyond the reach of those who tend to say "kurwa" every time they want to take a breath while speaking.

Language / Polish Language Pronunciation - Example Words and Phrases [178]

To say that ć/ci, rz/ż, u/ó are different is pure phantasmagoria. Please do not believe people who say this, just take what all grammar books say about it for granted. To write "ci" instead of "ć" is a matter of convention. The pairs rz/ż, u/ó and ch/h were once pronounced differently and still are in certain dialects of Polish, but for the standard Polish the pairs are identical. To prove that, you can inspect the newspapers and books written by the group of the so-called futurists from the years 1920s who wanted to simplify the Polish grammar, so printed the "h" in every word where there was "ch", the "ż" where there should be "rz", the "u" where everyone used to write "ó", and the "ć" where we should write the "ci". The writing was extremely shocking and, of course, was rejected by the rest of the public, nevertheless shows that literary men, well-known writers and poets of the period, could see no difference whatsoever between the pronounciation of letters in the given (and other) pairs.

Language / Accent marks in Polish language [22]

The ę at the end of a word may be neglected and pronounced only as e, I should think. It can't be so when the ę is within the word, so you shouldn't say dziekuję, but you may say either dziękuję or dziękuje.

Language / Polish grammar exercises from hell [130]


I think you are wrong here, Seanus. When I was reading some of your posts in this thread, it was the great compatriot of yours, the blessed Margaret Thatcher, subject of frequent mockery from her political opponents as well as satirists, who immediately came to my mind:

Margaret: I am not dogmatic! Everyone who says I am is wrong. And that's all there is to it !!!
You:


These two statements look almost identical. You admit that you are wrong only when you have no other choice. Even then, you attribute your being wrong to someone else, namely to your fiancée.

------
Ziemowit (imitating Mare Gaea here and thinking that teachers and politicians usually have difficulty in admitting they may be wrong)


For "szczypce" it does, for "sanie" it doesn't. "Sanie" is not a pair of two joint similar parts; they are symmetrical, but not two joint parts. The same applies to "drzwi" and "skrzypce". An ordinary Pole will usually find it difficult to decide which is correct: "siedem skrzypiec" or "siedmioro skrzypiec" (no wonder, they seldom see or play this istrument at home), but the music world where the object is well-known has no doubt about it. If you google for "skrzypiec", you will find, for example, official announcments of "koncert na dwoje/troje skrzypiec i fortepian", but never "na dwa/trzy skrzypce".

Another noun where you use "a pair of" is spodnie. You may say of trousers "spodnie or "para spodni" meaning one item; "trzy pary spodni" will indicate three items. Notice that in English the noun has only the plural form as well.