About presentation in Polish

I've jsut started learning some polish on my own. But i got stuck on almost the first thing. I need the correct translation for each word. SO i can understand the whole thing.

Example, what does "A pan?" mean. I understand the whole meaning but what does the words mean? Is A=And and pan=You? or :)

Ja jestem Staffan = Me is Staffan. Right?

Jak sie pan nazywa? = What is your name?

Moje nazwisko Staffan. = My name Staffan.

Help me out. :)

Seems OK.


[followed by]whats your name ?

Great. Then i think im getting hang of it.

What about "Co to jest?" Does it mean "What it is?"

To jest samochod. "It is car". RIght? :)

And the word "Czy" (in this context). How do i translate it.

(example: "Czy to jest kwiat?")

what is it ?


it is a car.


you don't. Use inversion instead = Is it a flower ?

so you mean Co=what to=is and jest=it. That doesnt sound right...

Staef,

I would like someone else to explain. They might be better at it than me.

Someone help us, please.

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.

Czy is simply a tag on that a question is being asked and like the French est-ce-que for instance est-ce que vous etes anglais?-Are you English? Czy pan jest anglikiem czy polakiem? Are you English or Polish? Therefore, czy is equivalent to the question 'is it to say that' whereas czyli means the definite affirmative response, 'that is to say that...'

Essentially, just stick Czy before a statement to turn it into a question with a yes/no answer.

Pan jest anglikiem. (You are English)
Czy pan jest anglikiem? (Are you English?)

For other questions - who, why, when etc. - you'll need the appropriate question word rather than Czy. (these three are który, dlaczego, and kiedy, to get you started).

So the word itself is meaningless, or at least has no direct translation in English.

a is not and "i" is though. "pan" means sir in this case.. otherwise it means man.

ja jestem stefan is i am stefan
nazwisko is surname or last name.. stefan is your imje


czy to jest kwiat means is it a flower? czy by itself means "~either"

If i translate it word for word i translate it to "if that is flower?"

yeah," if" is it.. right on