Life / Is there anything like Goodwill or Salvation Army in Poland? [5]

jason, you should see somewhere yellowish metal containers of PCK (Polski Czerwony Krzyż - Polish Red Cross - there should be a phone number on it, if you want to contact them), they may be stand-alone or close to some recipients for selected garbage (paper, glass) and you may throw your clothes there. Of course the clothes should be washed and packed in plastic bags.

but if you want to sell them for a penny, a 2nd hand store is usually called in Polish "sklep z używaną odzieżą" (or ""sklep z odzieżą używaną" the order doesn't make any difference),

btw, in Poznań (Osiedle Zwycięstwa) there was one store with a lovely name "Kup-ciuszek" which was a word game - it means "Buy an outfit", in a diminuitive form, but is also a clear reference to "Kopciuszek" (=Cinderella), which suits very nice 2nd hand clothes

Language / Which books is it essential to have read to be a good Polish student? [23]

some classic authors:
Renaissance - Mikołaj Rey, Jan Kochanowski
Enlightenment - Ignacy Krasicki, Aleksander Fredro (he's 19th century, but his writings belong more to the 18th century)
Romanticism - Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Zygmunt Krasiński, Cyprian (Kamil) Norwid
if you don't like peotry (especially written in a bit archaic language) then they aren't your picks :)
early 20th century - Henryk Sienkiewicz, Władysław Reymont, Stefan Żeromski, Isaac Bashevis Singer (writng in jidysz)
30'-40's - Witold Gombrowicz, Witkacy (pen name of a painter/writer Stanisław Ingacy Witkiewicz, because his father, a painter was named Stanisław Wtkiewicz), Bruno Schulz

war, early post-war (but dealing with the trauma of WWII) - K.K. Baczyński (poetry), Zofia Nałkowska, Tadeusz Borowski
50's-70's (and some of them were active much longer) - Tadeusz Różewicz (drama, peotry), Sławomir Mrożek (drama), Zbigniew Herbert (poetry), Czesław Miłosz (poetry), Wisława Szymborska (poetry), Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Stanisław Grochowiak

and of course I forgot my favorite playwright :(
Jerzy Szaniawski (started before the war, but was active also after)

Language / Polglish - mixture of Polish and English [34]

Uważam, że it's an obłęd

Law / Registering and eligibility to vote in the Poland's elections [15]

do you speak Polish? because you will need it to talk to the people in Urząd Miasta - they don't speak foreign languages too often.

do you also have Polish ID card? or only passport? ID card is better.
anyway, the best case scenario is that you go to Urząd Miejski (or Urząd Miasta - it's the same, but they use different names sometimes) and they should register you to vote (you will probably receive a piece of paper stating that you're not "zameldowana" anywhere - and you have to bring that paper with you to the voting commitee, anbd the ID card/passport as well, of course), but that's how it works with Polish people who can't vote in the place they live. if there are different rules for your case, then I don't know

and you have to register quite a while before the election day, so start the formalities ASAP.

Language / "Jest Mi" vs "Jestem" - the difference [11]


You could and you have to use "jestem" (I'm a doctor = Jestem lekarzem, because "doktor" is used in Polish in 2 meanings as "lekarz" - medicine doctor, and as a scholar title, that comes after "magister" (MA) - you are magister after finishing University or other 5-year studies, then you can stay at the University and become "doktor", so if you said "Jestem doktorem" it would mean you have that degree (is it Ph.D. in English, I think)


unfortunatelly, it's not THAT simple :(

when you talking about some basic needs (thirst, hunger, sleep) there are some fixed expressions that should be used:

I'm cold - jest mi zimno / zimno mi
I'm hungry - jestem głodny
I am thirsty - chce mi się pić / [or seldom] hestem spragniony
I'm sleepy - jestem śpiący / chce mi się spać

chce mi się (that appears in some of the above examples) is an impersonal version of the verb "to want" - Ja chcę >> chce mi się (I hope you notice the analogy between the use of personal/impersonal forms "jestem/jest mi" and "chcę/chce mi się")

Language / Too comparative ! [14]


- no, you don't say "bardziej drogi niż" but "droższy niż"

Language / "Jest Mi" vs "Jestem" - the difference [11]


"your state" is a definition a little bit too wide, I'd say it describes how you're feeling, both emotionally and the way you feel (perceive) an external stimulus.

In the case of feelings you may usually use 2 ways of expressing it:
Jest mi smutno = Jestem smutny (I feel sad/I'm sad)
Jest mi wesoło = Jestem wesoły (I'm happy/glad)

but here's the twist - as witek7205 said "jest mi + adverb" describes a state of things, very often temporary, while "Jestem + adjective" can have the same meaning or can decribe your permanent characteristics, "Jestem wesoły" can mean "I'm a happy person, I don't worry often"

grammatical remark:
you can skip the verb entirely, and inverse the order of pronoun/adverb:
Jest mi wesoło = Wesoło mi
jest mi smutno = smutno mi

some of those feelings can be expressed only with "jest me"for example:
Szkoda mi - I regret (can also be translated with "I wish that ...")
Ale mi głupio - I feel so stupid
('ale jestem głupi" means "I'm so stupid", and of course you can say that too, both in Polish and in English, but noone means he's really stupid, as an idiot, you use this sentence in the sense "feeling [temprarily] stupid" for having done some big mistake)

now external stimulus - Jest mi zimno (I'm feeling cold), jest mi ciepło (warm) - you CANNOT say "jestem zimny/ciepły", it's meaningless (of course you may say "ciało jest zimne od 2 godzin" = "the body has been cold for 2 hours")

and btw


I'm sad = jestem smutny :)
jestem przykry - I wouldn't say that

Life / Surviving the Polish Winter [27]

the biggest problem during Polish winter is not the temperature, but the wind,
you'll be fine with -10 C and a little sun, but you'll freeze to the bones with -1 C and North/East wind from Arctic area or Siberia

Language / About presentation in Polish [12]


wrong:
co = what
to = this/it
jest = is



Staef, is your mother tongue Swedish?
Staef, czy twoim językiem ojczystym jest szwedzki?

(btw, "ojczysty" comes from the word "ojczyzna" = homeland, which comes from the word "ojciec" = father, so don't get confused that ojciec = mother :) it's not

like in that example, you use "czy" in questions that in Swedish/English have the inversion of predicate (verb)/subject (noun or pronoun)

(and no words like: what - "co", where - "gdzie", who - "kto"), those are the questions that can be answered with a simple yes/no. In English they are corresponding also to question where in Simple Tense you use do/did at the beginning. Inversion in Polish isn't a grammatical tool, it my be used beacues of the style, but it doesn't change the meaning itself.

examples in English + Norwegian and then Polish
Is it a new car? Er det en ny bil? Czy to jest nowy samochód?
Do you speak Polish? Snakker du polsk? Czy mówisz po polsku? (or better "Czy znasz polski?")

there's also other other use of the word "czy": in composed sentences, where the second part is normally a yes/no question

I don't know if/whether she comes today.
Jeg vet ikke om hun kommer idag.
(Ja) nie wiem, czy ona dzisiaj przyjdzie.

Language / Too comparative ! [14]

we have similar distinction like English: some adjectives get a suffix (-szy) and some get the descriptive way (adding "bardziej"), but of course there's no correspondence between Polish and English adjective (so when using descriptive in English, you may still use the suffix in Polish)

with suffix

irregular adjectives:
good - better - (the) best
dobry - lepszy - najlepszy

regular:
cheap - cheaper - (the) cheapest
tani - tańszy - najtańszy

expensive - more expensive - (the) most expensive
drogi - droższy - najdroższy

Descriptive:
intelligent - more intelligent - (the) most intelligent
inteligentny - bardziej inteligentny - najbardziej inteligentny

sexy - sexier - (the) sexiest
seksowny - bardziej seksowny - najbardziej seksowny

Travel / train Berlin to Warsaw [9]

have you tried this?

bilet.intercity.pl/irez/

it says it's for buying Inter City tickets online (and the final step is printing your ticket, so it seems you don't need to collect your tickets at the railway station - you probably need only the ID card/passport which number you give while placing your order), you may also buy tickets for 5 other persons (but you need to fill their personal data and on the train they also need to have the ID stated in the order)

it's a Polish Railways site:

pkp.pl - then you scroll down and click the link "Kliknij aby kupić bilet" ("Click to purchase a ticket")

I'm guessing German railways (Deutsche Bahn) has a similar system (I saw the same prices - 19 euro for a day train and 29 euro for a night train) also on Italian and Austrian railways website, so it's a pan-european deal, not only Polish, in case you thought buying the tickets from Poland would be cheaper

Language / I'M CONFUSED about PAWEL name [9]


there's an old word "wojak" means soldier, but it's hard to hear anybody say that way
soldier in today's language is "żółnierz",
warrior = "wojownik" it comes from archaic (medieval Polish) "woj", so the male name Wojciech may have the same root, but I cannot vouch for that, anyway it doesn't have any female equivalent as far as I know.

(and like Grzegorz wrote, "Wojtek" is simply a short version of "Wojciech")

Language / [Phrase of the Day]: English to Polish [37]


it simply comes from the fact that many European languages make the difference between genders, English has some leftovers of this system too (he-she, his-her, "she" instead of "it" used for ships), but generally it other way and lost the most important things (like two/three forms of an adjective masculine/feminine/neuter)

Language / [Phrase of the Day]: English to Polish [37]


1/ "Która jest godzina"
2/ "Czy potrzebujesz pomocy" ("Czy potrzebuje Pan(i) pomocy")
3/ "Dokąd idziesz?" ("Dokąd Pan(i) idzie?")
4/ "Jak masz na imię?" ("Jak ma Pan(i) na imię?") = what is your first name, when you want the last name: "Jak się nazywasz?" ("Jak się Pan(i) nazywa?")

Language / [Phrase of the Day]: English to Polish [37]


Przepraszam, zgubiłam się (Jashiwi has "Female" in her profile description)
however, instead of zgubiłam się, it's much better to say "zabłądziłam"

Could you please help me with directions? - rather doesn't translate literally, maybe something like this - "Może mi Pan(i) powiedzieć, jak dojść do ...?" ("Could you please tell me how to get to ...?")

Life / Sending Post inside Poland. [13]

Geez, Michal, you don't accept registered mail if the package had been open, how hard is that to figure out?

Btw, registered mail in Poland is automatically insured to some small value, 50 or 60 Polish zloty, you may file a complaint and in such cases and claim a reimbursement. You just have to keep the small paper you get stamped at the post office when sending registered mail.

Before Paypal started their services in Poland, I had sent several times normal letters (not even registered) with 6.50 euro in each, and there were obviously coins in the envelope, everyone knew there was some cash in there, and they all arrived.

I'm not saying there aren't thieves among post office employees, because there are, but the chance of getting robbed isn't big. I also bought lots of CDs/DVDs online (shops or auctions) and if the value is below 100 PLN (~26 euro) they are mostly delievered by regular post (if the value is higher usually courier) without insurance, and never had anything stolen from me, and I guess, I received that way about 50 pacrcels in the last few years.

Language / Double negative in Polish language [24]

informal form is simply 2nd person verb, so you just have to learn the conjugation of the verbs :)
singular
1st znam
2nd znasz
3rd zna
formal - czy Pan zna?
informal - czy znasz? easy as a pie
I actually studied the so-called "Norwegian philology" (at Poznań University), but after 3 years I decided I'm not interested anymore so I quit and chose Italian

Language / Double negative in Polish language [24]

learning the formal language has its advantages - you are usually more polite when talking to people and using Pan/Pani requires 3rd person verb, which is probably the most often used form in the written language (not only in Polish)

besides, it's common to use those Pan/Pani when talking to a stranger, unless he/she is a young person

Language / Double negative in Polish language [24]


Czy pan mówi po norwesku?
men man behøver ikke å være så formal her:
Czy mówisz po norwesku?

Nei, jeg har glemt nesten alt, men jeg kjente norsk for femten år siden, når jeg studerte

oh, it's really like Bednar87 wrote it's better to say "czy znasz [zna pan] norweski?"

Language / Double negative in Polish language [24]


the rule is that the words that carry the negative meaning in themselves, like "nigdy" (never), "nic" (nothing), "nikt" (nobody) don't change the necessity for the use of the proper grammatical negation with "nie"

we have actually 3 different situation in the 3 main linguistic groups in Europe

Germanic languages - single negation
Romance languages - single negation with the specific sentence order (the nagative part before the verb)
- double negation (with the regular sentence order)
Polish (probably other Slavic languages too)
- double negation always

Language / To sa truskawki , To jest chleb. Difference between the two? [22]

Dwa bochenki chleba

bochenek in plural is bochenki
and it requires genitive case that's why you need "chleba" (chleb is nominative/accusative)

but in a shop/bakery, I would simply say: Poproszę dwa chleby (literally "Two breads, please") just like you say "dwa piwa" instead of "dwie butelki/puszki piwa" ("two beers" instead of "two bottles/cans of beer")

Language / Double negative in Polish language [24]


= "Hun/Han har ingenting på seg"

Travel / Mazurian Lakes pyramid - Help me win a bet.... [15]


no, technically (or geographically) it's a terrain without vegetation or with low, sparse vegetation covering very low percentage of the area, so I'd say with Pustynia Błędowska you still have a shot at three or four beers at least :)

Language / On nakłada spodnie. Is it correct Polish? [23]

We're not talking "usual" here but "correct"

Language / Difference between: ż and ź [8]

in this combination "dz" is voiceless (unvoiced) because of the "k", so it's pronounced like Polish "c" (which is phonetically close to a combination of t+s, but as a single sound)

if "dz" is in a voiced position, it's close to a combination of d+z, but still as a single sound.

and you should pronounce it something like this koor-lants-kee
(stress on "lants"), where "oo" is similar to "look" (not "door"), but is shorter, we don't have long vowels in Polish. "r" should be clear and heared, unlike in English, "ee" (Polish "i") is a short version of English "ee".

Honestly I think we should use International Phonetic Association transcription, because the vowels (and some consonants) in Polish differ from the English ones, so it's sometimes hard to explain

Travel / Mazurian Lakes pyramid - Help me win a bet.... [15]

you should also bet that there's a small desert in Poland (near Olkusz, not far from Kraków)

you should win a triple amount of beers, noone is gonna believe we have a desert and pyramids, Poland is no fricking Egypt after all

Language / On nakłada spodnie. Is it correct Polish? [23]


Michal, dude, get real, do you really think you know the language better than the authors of one of the best (if not the best) Polish language dictionary? I'm not talking about some crappy (or not) Polish-English dictionary here, but about a work of established scientists, lexicologists, professors who have dedicated their time to an in-depth study of our language


that's it, I knew zakładać (how I say) and wkładać (how I heard some people say) are most popular, and I was convinced nakładać was wrong, then I checked the dictionary and voila' it's correct too, although I assume it's far less popular than the other two.

There's one incorrect usage I know, very common in Wielkopolska even among educated people, it's "ubierać spodnie" [czapkę etc.], but they really prefer that form and are stubborn in using it, they just don't want to accept the fact that the dictionaries say it's wrong :)

Travel / zloty or Euro [33]


you should find the "radio taxis" number advertised somewhere online, before coming to Poland, or maybe even at the airport, 'm not sure about cell phones, but from a land line you just use 4 numbers instead of 10, normal numbers in Warsaw are like this (0-22) 1234567, while radio taxi may have a following style phone number: 9494 or 9559 (probably even without the (0-22) for Warsaw, but not sure)


you better check National Bank of Poland site before buying, today's rates are

dolar amerykański 1 USD buys at 2,8198 sells at 2,8768 - any good "kantor" should have similar prices (or even better for the client), but there's been some fluctuations on the international stock markets recently, so I guess currencies exchange rates change a lot every day, (4 weeks ago the price was 2,7286 (buys) / 2,7838 (sells))

nbp.gov.pl/Kursy/KursyC.html

Language / On nakłada spodnie. Is it correct Polish? [23]

forget about learning Polish verbs from dictionaries :)
just kidding, but verbs are the difficult part, because it's easier to understand a noun (they are quite often "palpable, real") than a verb which reflects a concept or an action, and is usually far more abstract.

and Polish verbs are quite complicated for foreigners, because we use several prefixes that modify the meaning:
for example:
zakładać
nakładać
wkładać
pokładać
wykładać
układać
przekładać
podkładać
odkładać
dokładać
składać
rozkładać
nadkładać
przedkładać (archaic)

That's off the top of my head, there might be some more. Now go and find their meaning (and they usually have more than one), illustrated in different sentences and you will see what I mean

Language / On nakłada spodnie. Is it correct Polish? [23]

and you got confused, because you must have checked in your dictionary the noun "nakład" instead of the verb "nakładać"

"nakład" (from PWN Polish language dictionary, available online, it's a serious publishing house and their dictionaries are very reliable - they have "słownik ortograficzny" for spelling, "encyklopedia" and "słownik języka polskiego", all very usuful)

1. «suma pieniędzy, ilość pracy, energii itp. włożone w wykonanie jakiegoś zadania»
2. «liczba egzemplarzy jednego wydania książki lub czasopisma»
3. «wydanie przez kogoś jakiegoś dzieła na swój koszt»