Language / The word "bet" - correct word usage? [8]


mogę się założyć, że or założę się, że
or just: jestem pewien, że


try to say it again, in Polish. To understand these sentences, I had to backtranslate them to English, word for word.


sory, even the back-translation doesn't help much with these :(


zdolny do życia


navy ship

Life / What is the reason for POLISH jokes ? [486]


oh, I see.
I must say this forum beats me.
Every time I open it, I find another pearl of wisdom.
It's an inexhaustible source of inspiration, to say the least.
Gotta love it...

Thank you, sir, for sharing the basics with lowly, unevolved creatures. Thank you again.

Life / What is the reason for POLISH jokes ? [486]

do you really think that Americans are Western European?

Language / Polish nationality insults in Polish? [67]


I think it's from the 60s (Vietnam war).

Genealogy / Stanislaw Valendzec, Tracing Polish father [5]

Sediece or Slediece

most probably that's Siedlce. There are no places in Poland named exactly as you wrote.

Language / Tego/Jego [15]

I think Leopejo has a point here. You should use "jego" when dziadek is part of the sentence subject - on par with the boy.

chłopiec i jego dziadek
nie było chłopca i jego dziadka
powiedziałem chłopcu i jego dziadkowi
widziałem chłopca i jego dziadka
etc.

When dziadek is not part of the subject, you use "swój":
chłopiec nie kocha swojego dziadka
chłopiec przygląda się swojemu dziadkowi
chłopiec widzi swojego dziadka
chłopiec idzie ze swoim dziadkiem
chłopiec mówi o swoim dziadku

Nominative case is impossible here.

Law / Need Advice on Writing a Business Letter to a Business Person in Poland [15]

If the letter is to be wtitten in English, it should follow the English rules as far as the tone, salutations, formatting etc.


Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz
ul. Grzebienieckiego 7 (street and house No.)
30-800 Szczebrzeszyn (zip code and city)

Language / Pan vs. pan (letter capitalization), Cię, Ciebie [13]


that's right :)


not unless it's the heading of a letter, just as it has been said above. Direct or indirect, you don't capitalize pan/i in dialogues, books, when relating conversations, etc.


pozdrowiłem panią Kowalską

Love / Why does my Polish boyfriend keep telling his mum our private business everytime we have words? [49]


Jesus. Where did you find this moron? Run away ASAP, girl, there's life waiting for you...

UK, Ireland / Interesting Job Ideas For Intelligent Polish People To Do In The UK? I've given 2 here :) [7]

Fiasco isn't complaining, she's looking for ideas. Can't you see the difference?

Language / spojrzenie, podejmowac - correct word usage [15]

no.
you can use patrzeć with moving objects - patrzeć na przejeżdżające pociągi, patrzeć when sth is going on in the street - two men were fighting, a ludzie stali i patrzyli/przyglądali się)

and oglądać can be used with immovable objects - oglądać obraz, pismo, książkę.
Oglądałem ten samochód, który chcesz kupić.
I'd say that oglądać is to look closely and intently, same as przyglądać się. Patrzeć has not much intent in it.

Language / "to be" (e.g. 'be yourself') [23]


Exactly, negation changes the case to Genitive.
potrafisz włożyć w to serce
potrafisz włożyć w to odrobinę serca

nie potrafisz włożyć w to serca/odrobiny serca

Negation always changes Accusative to Genitive.

Language / Polite forms in Polish vs English [49]


ok xyou've got a point :)
(proszę uściskać :D )


But how about these two sentences spoken with the same intonation?
Niech pan siada will definitely sound less polite then.

Language / Napić się kieliszek koniaku [25]


Słownik poprawnej polszczyzny PWN says that chłopacy is rare, but correct.

Language / Napić się kieliszek koniaku [25]

Puella - chin up, girl. At least you are interested in the language and can admit a mistake, and that's saying a lot. Many people treat the language very arrogantly. We all learn as we go, nobody's perfect :)


Oh yes, I've heard this one many times. Swetr, like wiatr. Or wiater, like sweter :) So it might be regional after all. I'm from Lublin.

Language / Napić się kieliszek koniaku [25]


The text seems to be OK otherwise, so I think there are just two typos in this one sentence ("upuszczeniu" being the other one).

Anyway, Google has seen weirdest forms and usages, which nevertheless doesn't make them all correct or even remotely acceptable.

Language / Napić się kieliszek koniaku [25]


It's not logic, it's basic gramar :)

Jest mleko? ----M
Nie ma mleka. ---- D

Zjadłem jabłko. --- M
Nie zjadłem jabłka.---- D

Language / Napić się kieliszek koniaku [25]


In negatives we use dopełniacz :)

Language / Napić się kieliszek koniaku [25]


It sounds very strange to me and I've never ever heard this, I can't even imagine that any Polish speaker could say so. But I may be wrong, after all, people are making the weirdest kinds of mistakes. Could it be regional?

Unless you mean negative sentences, then it's ok - nie napijesz się szklanki mleka.


You're right, of course, but it's limited to kielich od wódka :) Would you say that "wypij sobie szklanki herbaty" sounds as good?

Language / Polite forms in Polish vs English [49]


sorry, no.
sentences beginning with "niech" are always less (even much less) polite than proszę+Infinitive.

Language / Napić się kieliszek koniaku [25]


No! No, no, please! It sounds so terrible I don't even know where to begin.
"Napić się" should be followed by the name of the liquid only, in dopełniacz. Napij się mleka.
If you want to put the container into the sentence, it's incorrect but acceptable in spoken everyday language. But then the container is in biernik, not dopełniacz.

Napiję się kieliszek wódki, filiżankę kawy, szklankę mleka.
The correct form: wypiję kieliszek wódki, filiżankę kawy, szklankę mleka.

"Napiję się kieliszka" sounds as if kieliszek were the liquid you want to drink. Really terrible!

Language / Grammar help; Dokąd? and Gdzie? [19]

oh, but "gdzie idziesz" is perfectly ok,

gdzie - zaimek zastępujący człon zdania oznaczający miejsce jako środowisko odbywania się czegoś, rzadziej także cel przestrzenny, kierunek (dokąd) lub drogę, trasę (którędy)

Ej, ty na szybkim koniu, gdzie pędzisz, Kozacze?
Słownik języka polskiego PWN

gdzie - 2.wyraża potrzebę określenia kierunku, celu, do jakiego się dąży, trasy, którą się podąża
bliskoznaczne: dokąd
Praktyczny słownik współczesnej polszczyzny

Using "dokąd" every time in speech would be overly formal and stiff, it's hypercorrectness of the same kind as overly nasalizing "ę" in word endings or pronouncing jabłko instead of japko. In speech, gdzie idziesz is more natural than dokąd idziesz. And I wouldn't hesitate to use it in writing too, it would depend on the context.

"poszłem" instead of "poszedłem"

My son is of an opinion that poszłem should be used when you go to a nearby place, and poszedłem - when going far :)

UK, Ireland / What's the rule on 'the UK' but just 'GB'? [60]


Grendel
very suitable for a coat of arms, and for scaring off foreigners, too

wildrover
Surely everyone knows we are better than the French...??

of course. the French had no Grendel

Language / Grammar help; Dokąd? and Gdzie? [19]


;)


and one more, reportedly from Białystok:

- Jest mięso mielone?
- Mielim.
- To poproszę pół kilo.
- Wczoraj mielim...

although this one should probably go into a verbs thread :)

Life / Polish spy or action films? [17]


not spy but action:
Ekstradycja, Oficerowie - both in episodes
not bad, not so great either, watchable

Psy - a classic of sorts ;) plus other creations by Pasikowski. A lot of shooting and cursing.

Language / Grammar help; Dokąd? and Gdzie? [19]


Dokąd mnie nie wyrzucą ;)

this thread made me remember an old joke:

- Gdzie pędzisz?
- W piwnicy.
- Ale dokąd?
- Dokąd mnie nie złapią...

To the OP: "dokąd" in spoken everyday Polish is sometimes used as "until", although the usage is incorrect and rather uneducated.

Language / How to use time in Polish language? [20]


no!
not getting into too many details, dziękuję is your ordinary thank you, whereas podziękuję has a future meaning - I will thank (you or anybody else) - podziękuję mu, kiedy go zobaczę - I will thank him when I see him

Life / Imitating old peasant-type Polish dialects - polite? [11]

In dealing with old peasant types speaking a heavy Polish rural dialect is it polite to try to speak to them their way? If one stops at a peasant's hut and asks him: 'Gospodarzu, mata może świże jojka?'

you mean this kind of peasants?

youtube.com/watch?v=Os1t-xhbp3Y&feature=related

Life / Polish-American Polka Music in Poland [60]


hey, that's the song I like to sing when driving long distance and getting sleepy!
(but only if I'm driving alone...)

my take on it can't be much worse than this... could I make a career in the US?

oh, and I can sing Szła dzieweczka do laseczka too!

Life / Dzień Świra. ''Day of the madman'' (Polish Cult movie.) [20]


actually, is a cartoon series, made by Bartosz Kędzierski.
You'll find it on Youtube, also on ipla - it's a Polish TV site where you can watch some shows for free, you need to download it and register though. I'm not sure whether it's available for non-Polish ip addresses.

ipla.pl

If any of you give it a try, let me know what you think. I see some similarities with Dzień świra as far as the kind of humour and general outlook go. But the Polish here might be slightly more difficult to grasp.

edit: wow, they even have an English wikipedia entry ;)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Włatcy_móch