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.

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 / 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.

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 / 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".

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]

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


yes, which is pretty much what I said earlier - there is no real rule and sometimes the future looks like the present with a prefix, but not always....

Travel / Buying a sims card to match my mobile phone whilst in Poland [2]

You can get a Pay As You Go sim card on any network for only a few zloty depending on what tarrif you want. I don't know what mobile you've got though - if it's a normal mobile that is not locked then you won't have any problems.

I brought my unlocked mobile (nokia 6630) from the UK and just switch to a Polish sim card when in Poland, and switch back to my UK card when in the UK.

UK, Ireland / WHY DO POLISH PEOPLE THAT COME TO ENGLAND CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH? [118]


The correct sentence should be:

"why can't the Poles that came to England speak English?"

Here it is with the definite article because it is referring to a specific group of Poles, namely those that came to England.

As a native Brit "why can't Poles that came to England speak English?" sounds wrong and is incorrect.

UK, Ireland / WHY DO POLISH PEOPLE THAT COME TO ENGLAND CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH? [118]


obviously that's even worse... :-)

Language / My reading and writing is awful - POLISH IS HARD TO LEARN [13]

I am confused how people can claim to speak perfectly but not be able to read/write well.

Maybe I am missing something but surely if you can speak Polish perfectly then you must have an excellent understanding of grammar and vocabulary. So how can you not read well? Maybe it's just me, but I think that reading is easier than speaking or listening because you can read at your own pace.

Again, I understand that spelling can be difficult but if you can say something in Polish without a problem why can't you write it?

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


On a similar note, I find it strange that Polish doesn't seem to have a word for "sleet". I only ever hear on TV deszcz z śniegiem or śnieg z deszczem....

UK, Ireland / UK Car Insurance [13]

car insurance in the UK is indeed very expensive, plus car tax too each year.

Much cheaper (if possible) just to bring a car from Poland and keep your Polish licence, MOT and insurance

UK, Ireland / Taking a UK-registered car to Poland [35]


If you want more cover than just 3rd party only, then yes that's a problem.
But why not just get a 3rd party only policy from any insurer in the UK? Did you know that any policy bought in the EU must cover you to the minimum legally required level in any other EU country?

i.e. if you buy any policy in the UK then you are covered to 3rd party level in Poland, whether they know you are leaving the UK or not.

Clarabelle has pretty much covered everything in her post. I registered a UK motorbike in Poland and it cost 550 zloty, I would expect a car to cost a similar amount but as has been stated you can't register a RHD car here.

Regarding the tax, I had a UK van in Poland for over a year. The problem is that in the UK you either have to declare a SORN (statutory off road notice) to say your car is off the road or you have to buy your tax disc. If you do neither then you automatically get issued a fine.

The DVLA say the vehicle must be taxed even if abroad - being abroad doesn't count as off road. However no-one outside the UK cares if you are displaying your tax disc or not so I can't see how they could catch you if you did declare a SORN.

My tax disc expired whilst in Poland. I bought a new one online. I drove around for many months in Poland without any tax disc and never had any problems. Of course as soon as I came off the ferry I got pulled over by the Police in the UK. I explained that I had been abroad whilst it expired, my tax is paid and the disc is at home (in the UK). They were happy with that (they checked on their computer), although reminded me that the offence is "failing to display a valid tax disc", rather than not having tax.

Regarding Polish MOTs, as has been mentioned this won't apply to you because you will need a British one - but yes they are indeed somewhat less arduous than in the UK. Last year my wife asked her cousin to get an MOT for her. An hour later he simply turned up with the certificate (car had been in our garage the whole time). This year when my wife asked him, the cousin rang an hour later and said "this time they want to see the car". So I guess standards are rising....

Having said that the MOT for my bike this March lasted the whole of 10 seconds whilst they checked that it had 2 wheels and headlights....

Life / Applying for EU passport... [51]


yes, that's correct. My grandfather was Polish and they are now investigating my status regarding Polish citizenship. In fact I don't even think there is a limit on how many generations back it goes as long as you have proof/documentation and none of your ancestors lost/renounced their Polish citizenship.

It's because the Polish system is based on blood law.

UK, Ireland / Taking a UK-registered car to Poland [35]

Yes if you can get European cover without a problem then of course that's great. I am dubious about this 90 day thing. I will check it next week. My insurance company tried to fob me off with the same thing. When I pressed them about it they said that my fully comp cover is only valid for 90 days abroad but I would have 3rd party level regardless as per my understanding of EU law.


Yes but define permanently. The clock starts again each time you take the car out of the country. So if you are going back once a year you are effectively just taking 12 month holidays.

But if you want to have fully comp then I agree that doesn't work. This is why I sold my nice car back in the UK and bought a cheap van to move my stuff to Poland. But now I am in Poland permanently I bought a Polish car.

Can I ask though, is it really worth the hassle if you aren't planning to use the car in Poland anyway? Or do you need to drive a car across to move your stuff?


they originally introduced road tax to raise money for working on the roads. It soon turned in to just another tax, only a fraction of this money goes on the roads now. Plus already 90% of the cost of petrol is tax, so it doesn't really matter how you cut it, petrol is expensive enough though anyway. Dropping road tax is never going to happen now that they have started to use it as a way of encouraging less polluting cars. Now that I've taken my 2 vehicles permanently out of the UK though that's one less hassle for me... :-)

Life / Applying for EU passport... [51]

then you automatically became Polish the moment you were born, so you already have Polish citizenship. To get a Polish ID card or passport you will have to get a "confirmation" of your Polish citizenship. What documents you need depends on a case by case basis, but typically you will need your birth certificate and proof that your father was Polish. Of course everything must be translated in to Polish. As it sounds like you aren't in Poland I recommend you contact your embassy who will have info on this. But the whole process can take a very long time....

UK, Ireland / Taking a UK-registered car to Poland [35]

Yeah I agree with you. But again the problem is how do you decide when a vehicle is here permanently or when the vehicle is visiting? The DVLA say permanently is when the vehicle is here for 12 months or more.

Given that in the UK we have no compulsory registration system such as zameldowanie in Poland or anmeldung in Germany it is hard to say if the vehicle's owner is living here or not.

They could look at the records of cars coming in on ferries (if they have them?) but I am sure most foreigners return home at least once a year, and as mentioned the clock starts again each time you come in to the UK.

This issue, and the documented issue with LHD lorries causing accidents on UK motorways I don't think will get solved any time soon as the EU becomes more integrated...

Language / Cases, Genders, Nominative, Instrumental...WHY? [40]


It isn't, it's nominative. The accusative is like the nominative for non-animates. For animates (such as a chicken) it looks like the genitive - i.e. jednego małego kurczaka.

Generally the accusative is used following prepositions that require the accusative or in sentences where there is a direct object.

For example:
The chicken is small - chicken is the subject -> Nominative
I like chicken - I am the subject, the chicken is the direct object -> Accusative

Strangely (for me at least), Polish uses the genetive when you negate a sentence that had an object in the accusative - e.g.

I don't like chicken - chicken changes to genitive.

Hope that helps and I haven't just created more confusion...

Language / Cases, Genders, Nominative, Instrumental...WHY? [40]

Not sure I catch what you are getting at, so I will try and cover too much rather than not enough:

In English we rely on word order to determine meaning:

Ben hits Paul

is totally different to:

Paul hits Ben

or we rely on helper words (prepositions) such as "for" or "to":

e.g. Ben gave the book to Paul

In Polish, as you know, the cases tell us who is doing what:

Paweł bije Bena

is still the same as:

Bena bije Paweł

despite the different word order because Ben is in the accusative case in both sentences (because of the "-a" ending).

In the sentence:

Ben gives the book to Paul

the subject is Ben (so Ben is nominative), the direct object is the book (so the book takes the accusative) and Paul is the indirect object or receiving object (so Paul takes the dative).

Thus in Polish:

Ben daje książkę Pawłowi

Here książka takes the fem. acc. ending -ę and Paweł takes the masc. dat. ending -owi

Hope that helps.

Life / Receiving UK TV in Krakow [20]

I had sky whilst living near Opole. I brought my UK equipment and viewing card over from the UK and got a local installer to set it up. I had a 90cm dish. I couldn't receive any channels broadcast from the Astra 2D satellite (namely BBC1, BBC2, ITV etc..) which was a real bummer as I mainly wanted to get the normal channels.

As has been said you need a huge and very expensive 2.4m or bigger dish to get channels on Astra 2D, and the further east you go the worse it gets.

However I think this new freesat.co.uk - freesat that has just been launched could be another way to get normal UK TV abroad - no sky box needed, no subscriptions and broadcast free-to-air. I have been trying to find out if they also broadcast from Astra 2D or if they are using a different satellite. Does anyone know?

Life / Applying for EU passport... [51]

to be honest I don't know. I wrote to the Polish embassy in London a couple of months ago (as I am British) and so far haven't even got a reply from them. Meanwhile when I was doing my karta pobytu in Krakow they said I would have to do report somewhere in Krakow about this, but I haven't heard from them yet either....

UK, Ireland / Taking a UK-registered car to Poland [35]


I understand your frustration, but that just isn't practical. Imagine if every country in Europe required you to fill out a form and have checks done each time you went across their border? I used to regularly drive between London and Germany in 8 hours non-stop. How long would that take to go through France, a bit of Holland and into Germany with what you are suggesting? It would be a nightmare. Imagine the negative impact that would have on trade and the cost it would add to trucking. Also imagine the sheer cost of paying for such a system and to have people manage it. That would come out of our taxes too remember.

Also imagine the impact on tourism if foreigners had to fill out forms and await permission just for a week's holiday driving around Devon... They'd be more likely to do a week in the south of spain.

The idea of being in the EU is about free trade and movement of people. I don't think it's that the government don't want to deal with this, but how can you realistically deal with this? This is one of the side-effects when one part of the EU has very high charges for something (e.g. UK car tax) and other parts don't (e.g. Poland)

UK, Ireland / Taking a UK-registered car to Poland [35]


The point I am making is it's almost impossible for the authorities to know when you roll off the ferry whether you are here for a holiday or to work for 2 years. Your idea was to check everyone when they came in to the country which would hit everyone, tourists alike - and that just wouldn't work.

Yes there a lots of things that weren't ironed out before we joined the EU. Lots of things are still a mess. Regarding joining the EU and its expansion, that's a whole other thread....

Life / Applying for EU passport... [51]

Here are a couple of links that might interest you:

londynkg.polemb.net/index.php?document=78

polishconsulateny.org

I live near Wadowice, about an hour south of Krakow by car.

UK, Ireland / Taking a UK-registered car to Poland [35]

yes I agree with what you are saying, but I don't see how any such policy could be enforced. Even if 5 Poles in an old car turn up without a return ticket they could always say they are visiting friends and will be a last minute return ticket when they go back in a week or two.

Personally I got fed up with life in England, council tax and hoodies. Getting burgled was the last straw for us. Moved to Poland 18mths ago and haven't regretted it yet...

UK, Ireland / Taking a UK-registered car to Poland [35]


Yep agree with you.


Before I moved to Poland the only thing I could say in Polish was "my soup is very good". Turned out to be quite a handy phrase - they like their soup here.