Life / All Saints' Day in Poland - Commemoration or Carnival? [44]


I haven't seen it yet but it's probably only a matter of time, after I've seen singing lamps nothing will surprise me anymore - and they were singing this awful pop hit "Rise, see, you're not alone..." now, that was something.

Language / What does it mean? - A Polish language game for foreigners [59]

how about: być w lesie?

Love / Why don't Polish women treat education seriously for themselves? [130]


No respect due here, I'm afraid.

Language / Biernik czy narzędnik (Accusative or Instrumental) [65]


"It will do" or "ok". Acceptance, but not very enthusiastic.


right


leniwi - it's plural


leniwymi ludźmi


You will :)

Language / Biernik czy narzędnik (Accusative or Instrumental) [65]


No worries, Chrząszcz - ask until you're sure you understand. It's the most sensible part of the forum anyway :) Just remember you owe me a beer when you get your B next year!

Food / The Mystery of Polish Sausage - Interesting kiełbasa link [17]


same as 1

uhm. so may I ask how many miles do you have to drive to the nearest Lidl? Or is the distance so close that it can be measured in yards? :D

Food / The Mystery of Polish Sausage - Interesting kiełbasa link [17]


A-F are six grades or levels too, so what's your problem?


yeah... so, not to get off-topic, do you buy your sausage by pound or by kilogram?

Language / Biernik czy narzędnik (Accusative or Instrumental) [65]

It can happen in lazy speech, but I'd rather expect to hear "To Polak" then.

Language / Biernik czy narzędnik (Accusative or Instrumental) [65]


The rules are different for nouns and adjectives, and you're mixing them up here, hence the confusion.
In English, "English" and "Polish" are adjectives (I am English, I am Polish).
But in Polish you use the words Anglik/Polak, which are nouns, so in this sentence they take Instrumental.

Jestem + Noun --> Instrumental
Jestem + Adjective --> Nominative
Jestem + Adjective + Noun --> Instrumental

so it's:
Jestem chłopakiem
Jestem przystojny
Jestem przystojnym chłopakiem.

The case of the adjective is determined by the presence/absence of a noun. When a noun follows, the adjective takes the same case as the noun. If there's no noun and the adjective stands by itself, then it's in the Nominative case.


ona jest miła, ono/to jest miłe, oni są mili, my jesteśmy mili, wy jesteście mili, oni są mili

but: ja jestem miłym chłopcem
ty jesteś miłym chłopcem
on jest miłym chłopcem
my jesteśmy miłymi chłopcami
wy jesteście miłymi chłopcami
oni są miłymi chłopcami

Is it clear now?

Language / Polish names spelling and pronunciation [24]

Or Zuźka (Zuza, Zuzka, Zuzanna).

Love / Why don't Polish women treat education seriously for themselves? [130]


It seems the very existence of women is traumatizing for you. Tough.

Genealogy / trying to verify marriage Malecki/Yarck [4]


Yes, this part of Poland was under the German rule in the 19th c.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietrzanowo

And here's the parish site: nietrzanowo.archpoznan.org.pl/aktualnosci/glowna.htm

Genealogy / trying to verify marriage Malecki/Yarck [4]


Yarck is definitely not a Polish name but it's quite possible that somebody arrived to it trying to write Jarecka phonetically in English.
BTW, the Polish versions of Michael and Ludovica are Michał and Ludwika.

Language / Biernik czy narzędnik (Accusative or Instrumental) [65]


Practically none. The first one sounds a little better but the difference is neglectable. Very often there's more than one way to say something in Polish.


a noun
Think: a meeting vs to meet - the same story, a noun and a verb. I'm planning a meeting with Mark vs I'm planning to meet Mark.

Love / TRAVELLING to Poland - Girl Advice! [29]

You sound a likeable, reasonable guy, you don't come across as arrogant or self-centered, so I see no problem here. And you have something in common - the photography. That's a very good reason to spend some time together. Ask her to show you her work, get her to show you her city, places to take good pictures and so on and you'll both see how you feel in each other's company. There's nothing in your background or ancestry that could be perceived negatively even by very conservative folk here so it all just boils up to your personalities.

Language / Biernik czy narzędnik (Accusative or Instrumental) [65]


spotykam go or spotykam się z nim


ok


przyjaciół


z przyjaciółmi (that one' a bit irregular)


One thing is that spotykać kogoś and spotykać się z kimś take two different cases - respectively, Acc and Instr.
Another is that negation changes the case into Gen.
widzę stół (Acc) - nie widzę stołu (Gen)
planuję spotkanie (Acc) - nie planuję spotkania (Gen)
jem jabłko (Acc) - nie jem jabłka (Gen)

Planuję spotkanie z Markiem - nie planuję spotkania z Markiem.
In this sentence, the case of "spotkanie" changes from Acc to Gen.
The instrumental "z Markiem" remains the same.

Planuję spotkać się z Markiem - nie planuję spotkać się z Markiem.
Here "spotkać się" is a verb so there's no case change.

Language / What has been the hardest language for you to learn? [81]


I said "if they both know some Russian", meaning the generation of Poles who had an 8-year exposure to it in the primary and secondary school. Trying to speak to an Ukrainian, you automatically switch to Russian or whatever you remember of it, as it usually works better than simply speaking Polish.


It is and it probably works both ways but still, you need some exposure time and the situation is not quite symmetrical here, at least with the Western Ukrainians. Many of them have more contact with Polish than Poles do with Ukrainian - I mean, they come here to work or to sell things, there are a lot of Poles and Polish tourists around the Lviv area, they watch Polish TV etc, and as a result, they're more familiar with the Polish language than vice versa. Given the same time of exposure, a Pole would probably pick up Ukrainian with equal ease.

Food / Organic fruit and vegetable - delivery (Warsaw) [33]


Picking by hand doesn't mean that the produce is organic. Pay attention in the spring, that's the time when most insecticides are used. You'll see lots of tractors with small cisterns attached to them - the so-called "opryski". It's done in the early stages of growth, with fruit it's the time when the trees are blooming, and the chemicals are supposed to fully dissolve long before the fruit is picked. Still, I'm not sure if it could be certified as organic.


Any serious producer, selling large quantities of his produce, is bound to use chemicals at some point in the growth cycle. The best bet for organic produce is small, non-commercial or even neglected farms run by people who don't care much and are not going to spend money for insecticides and such. The small sellers in the marketplace, selling from the trunk of a car, or the babcias with a bag of carrots and another one of spinach leaves. If you want organic, avoid large producers.

Another thing is that the soil in the Polish countryside is not so ladden with chemicals as in most Western countries.

Language / What has been the hardest language for you to learn? [81]


Because, if they both know some Russian, it's much simpler. Ukrainian is not so easy to understand for a Pole. Simple words and phrases, yes, but it's very easy to get lost in a full-blown conversation.

Life / Polish Cartoons/ Legends [15]


there were Polish Muminki too, I like them better than the Japanese cartoon

youtu.be/dIQZgaQcsW4

UK, Ireland / Polish in Uk are some of the hardest working and nice people [37]


It's Serbia. As Eastern as they come.

Food / What made in Poland produce would you recommend [110]


They do:
Our sphere of activity is not restricted solely to Poland; quite the contrary - ZELMER is known and recognized worldwide for its reliable, aesthetic, world-class quality products. Our goods are exported, among others, to Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltic states, Canada, the USA and Korea.

zelmer.com/zelmer_trading_sp_z_oo/about_us/

Travel / Poland in photo riddles [3134]

the new KC PZPR headquarters
They're operating in exile now
For more details, ask Polonius

UK, Ireland / Should UK Poles be forced to attend English language courses? [10]

Also, she says she's taking an English course at a college and pays for it herself.

Google Translate can be very treacherous.

History / Welcome to Lemmingrad! [59]


is it? Why?
I heard this word for the first time a few weeks ago but since then, it's been like an internet epidemic and it's used to show contempt towards PO voters. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think these are just the criteria for a buzz word.

History / Welcome to Lemmingrad! [59]


Who are these people?

As for lemmingi, that's a buzz term for PO supporters, mostly used on GW fora, which doesn't surprise me a bit as most of Polonius' threads directly reflect the contents of the GW news site for the day.

News / Poland Parliamentary elections 2015 [1060]

No place is perfect, politically or otherwise. At least you have cheap petrol in the US :)

News / Poland Parliamentary elections 2015 [1060]

Indeed. I've checked upon the electoral procedure and now I see what you mean. Well, with the principles of the American Constitution it doesn't look like it might change anytime soon. Grin and bear it or move to Poland ;)

News / Poland Parliamentary elections 2015 [1060]


Do you mean the polls?


That must mean that some people like the Democratic candidate more, but vote for a Republican senator, and vice versa. Well I suppose that happens - you get the whole package or nothing. There's some logic to it too, certainly it makes life easier for the one who wins.

News / Piotr Glinski - PIS candidate for PM of Poland [9]


Talk is cheap.
They might as well present their candidate for the President of the US.