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Polish grammar exercises from hell


gumishu 13 | 6,134  
4 Nov 2009 /  #121
One kilogram was increased to him. :S :S

One kilogram was added to him. Sounds better?
One kilogram added up on his weight. - is it actually proper English??? ;)
Ziemowit 14 | 4,278  
4 Nov 2009 /  #122
Genitive after a verb and no subject?

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.
OP Derevon 12 | 172  
4 Nov 2009 /  #123
Thanks, I appreciate it Ziemowit.

I remember reading that joke, and that it was funny, but I can't remember where it was, and I was not able to find it using the search.

It's interesting to note that in the four examples I found the three sentences where the nouns are in object form would have subject forms in English and contrariwise, the one sentence which would have the noun as an object in English (iii) has it in the subject form here. Sometimes I wonder if English and Polish are even related at all. ;)

One kilogram was added to him. Sounds better?

Slightly. ;)

The least logical one for me is: (i) przybyło nowych książek

"increased of new books"? Hmm...
rudzion - | 7  
4 Nov 2009 /  #124
Heeh; What aboyt ubyło :o
gumishu 13 | 6,134  
4 Nov 2009 /  #125
The least logical one for me is: (i) przybyło nowych książek

"increased of new books"? Hmm...

Some new books arrived. - przybyć is also to arrive after all
OP Derevon 12 | 172  
4 Nov 2009 /  #126
Good point. Nonetheless, why make an object of something that should according to all logic and intuition be a subject? ;)

Now that I think of it, in Swedish it would be possible, and even preferable, to say "Det anlände några nya böcker igår" which would be translated roughly to "It arrived some new books yesterday", so maybe this kind of construction isn't as alien as I may think? Hmm... Maybe I should think more in Swedish and less in English when I learn Polish. ;)
Ziemowit 14 | 4,278  
5 Nov 2009 /  #127
I remember reading that joke, and that it was funny, but I can't remember where it was, and I was not able to find it using the search.

You can find it (along with an explanation) in the message number 49 (page 2) of this thread.
OP Derevon 12 | 172  
5 Nov 2009 /  #128
Sometimes I scare myself with my poor memory. I guess I'm stuffing my head too full with Polish words. ;)

Thanks though. I used the site's search engine with the query "niedź", but apparently it doesn't work all that well, because I got 0 hits.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to say "21000th" in Polish. I know that 20000th is dwudziestotysięczny, but I couldn't find this one.
Bzibzioh  
10 Nov 2009 /  #129
"21000th"

dwudziesto jedno tysięczny
or dwudziesto pierwszo tysięczny if it's liczebnik porządkowy
OP Derevon 12 | 172  
11 Nov 2009 /  #130
Thanks, but what do you mean if it's "liczebnik porządkowy"? Isn't "tysięczny" always a such?

21000 = dwadzieścia jeden tysięcy (cardinal number/liczebnik główny)
21000th = dwudziestu pierwszo tysięczny (ordinal number/liczebnik porządkowy)

In what situation would your first example (dwudziesto jedno tysięczny) be used?

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