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Posts by gumishu  

Joined: 6 Apr 2009 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - A
Last Post: 17 Jul 2025
Threads: Total: 15 / In This Archive: 3
Posts: Total: 6352 / In This Archive: 3025
From: Poland, Opole vicinity
Speaks Polish?: yes

Displayed posts: 3028 / page 30 of 101
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gumishu   
20 Aug 2014
Language / Questions regarding the usage of Kto, Co, Kogo [4]

Just finding it hard to get my head around how these questions can help determine the case

they won't - they are a help for Poles learning grammar who know the logic of the languge - they are of no help for the foreigners like yourself - you have to learn when to use which case in other ways
gumishu   
19 Aug 2014
Travel / Baggage size limit on Trains in Poland? [16]

Bicycles can be taken without extra cost - just as luggage.

perhaps something changed in the last couple of years - I haven't traveled with my bicycled on a train since then - but it was always necessary to buy a ticket for a bicycle before

i looked it up - pam if your luggage fits on the shelves above the seats you don't have to pay for it - I never had to pay extra money for luggage on Polish railways - even if a ticket inspector asks you to pay extra money (say in case you have to put your luggage in the passage) it is just 5 zloty per piece
gumishu   
18 Aug 2014
Language / Is ę and ń always pronounced the same? [11]

here you've got the pronounciation of ń - (and other Polish phonemes too) - youtu.be/aJI6JDAxUd4?t=2m2s

alternatively use ivona.com and type 'ń' in their window - you will it hear it pronounced
gumishu   
17 Aug 2014
Language / Is ę and ń always pronounced the same? [11]

ni: nie, nia, niu etc - in this case i letter only marks the softening of the n letter into ń and is not heard as a vowel i - so in effect you

one minor thing is some Latin derived words like mania(manic), Armenia, pirania (piranha) - in case of these the i letter not only marks the softening of the n letter into ń but also is heard as j (y) - so phonetically the words can be written down as mańja, Armeńja, pirańja

that's why dania (dishes) is phonetically different to Dania (Denmark) (dańa vs dańja)
gumishu   
17 Aug 2014
Language / Is ę and ń always pronounced the same? [11]

but i learned that the ń is pronounced like " ni

someone mislead you the ń sound is just a consonant like ng in champange -

ni compound is a consonant plus i vowel - nikt (nobody) - the i softens the n and makes it sound ń while the i wovel is still heard - you can phonetically write down the compound as ńi

thus słoń and słoni sound differently (słoń and słońi) - słoń is elephant

there are however further compounds with ni: nie, nia, niu etc - in this case i letter only marks the softening of the n letter into ń and is not heard as a vowel i - so in effect you phonetically write these compounds as: ńe, ńa, ńu etc

ę is pronounced at the end of words as plain e - so in the case of tęsknię you phonetically write it down as tęsknie (or tęskńe taking into account what I have written above)

ę in the middle of the word can be approximated by en but it's not proper speech
gumishu   
16 Aug 2014
Language / Going to learn the Polish Genitive Case [28]

with the neuter gender you replace -o ending with -a ending - to dziecko (this child) - piłka tego dziecka (this child's ball)

the neuter words ending in -um don't change the word form following cases (in singular) - it's always muzeum no matter the case (in singular - in plural they change word form following cases)
gumishu   
15 Aug 2014
News / Closet homosexual politicians in Poland [83]

I don't know if you are familiar with the term but it takes one to know one.

so a straight person cannot tell who is gay? - really self-defeating argument
gumishu   
11 Aug 2014
Language / Polish grammar - do you have the same words for toes and fingers? [6]

1 - is it me or do you have the same words for toes and fingers

yes both fingers and toes are called 'palce' if you want to specify which you mean you add a description - fingers = 'palce u rąk' (where 'ręka' is hand); toes = palce u nóg (where 'noga' is leg)

2 do you have the same word for teaching / learning

not really: to teach somebody = uczyć kogoś ; to learn = uczyć się (word for word translation would be 'to teach oneself')

3 bawi means play right ? but now " graja " is being used , and looks like it means play also ?

those are two different actions that are represented in English with a single word (though in different meanings)

bawić się zabawką - to play with a toy ; grać na gitarze - to play guitar

it keeps showing me pictures of people smelling milk but it uses the word " wacha " in stead of " pachnie " which im sure means smells

again those are two different things that happen to have the same word for them in English - there is ambiguity involved in English 'it smells' which is helped by the context

in Polish pachnie = it smells (it has fragrance (or sometimes odour)) wącha = he/she/it smells (draws the air to feel a smell)

it smells good - to ładnie pachnie
gumishu   
2 Aug 2014
Language / jest - są / female/male nouns - Polish Grammar help please [10]

" Tu ???? piec' jajek " --- why is this a " yest" answer ? and " ile tu yest kluczy " - tu ?? cztery klucze .. why is this a sa' answer ? ... and why does kluczy become klucze

the simple answer is Polish has a weird rule for counting things - things from 2-4 and from 22-24, 32-34 and so on range need the verb form 'są' and also use the nominative case (the basic form of the word be it in singular or plural - in your case klucze or jajka) - things from the range 5-21 25-31 35-41 (and so on) use another form of the word called genetive and require 'jest' 'było' verb form (jest for the present było for the past) - in your case the genetives are kluczy, jajek - there are rules on how genetive is formed from nominative but they are a bit complicated
gumishu   
31 Jul 2014
Language / "Jesteś piękna" is for female term or male? [3]

jesteś piękna is for female

in nominative (basic form) female adjectives always take an -a ending while male adjectives end in -y or -i (piękny, krótki)

there is also a neuter gender in Polish - in nominative it ends in -e or -ie (piękne okno, krótkie śniadanie)
gumishu   
27 Jul 2014
Travel / Transport options for Gdansk to Hel in Mid September? [4]

as I've heard that the ferry doesn't run in September.

well you are right and not right at the same time - the 'water tram' (it's not a ferry - no cars allowed) from Gdańsk to Hel does not run in Sept - however the connection from Gdynia to Hel runs in September - there is only one course - it departs at 10 am from the port in Gdynia and arrives at 11am in Hel the return course departs at 3pm from Hel and arrives at 4pm in Gdynia (Gdynia is part of the Tricity)

however the transfers to port in Gdynia can prove problematic to you

the alternative connection is a railway connection - however you still need to change in Gdynia Główna - you first need to take a train from Gdańsk Główny (Gdańsk Central Station) to Gdynia Główna - there are plenty of trains between them - you can use SKM city trains but be sure to buy a ticket for it before you board - from Gdynia you got direct trains to Hel like every 2 hours during the daytime
gumishu   
27 Jul 2014
Language / Polish names spelling and pronunciation [24]

or whether it would be pronounced as "sh".

you can approximate the Polish pronunciation with English Krisha - you won't go any nearer the correct Polish pronunciation without years of experience - the sound ś that is present in Krysia is not present in English phonetics
gumishu   
26 Jul 2014
Language / Passive constructions in Polish [5]

So there isn't a construction with the verb "to have" in Polish?

well one can use such constuction: Masz zrobione zadanie? Have you got your homework done?

still it's very rarely used and not used to denote the present perfect tense like I have done - there is no such thing as the present perfect in Polish
gumishu   
26 Jul 2014
Language / Passive constructions in Polish [5]

'have done' is not a passive construction - 'is done' is (also 'was done' and 'has been done')

Polish uses passive construction mostly in formal register - Ta fabryka została sprzedana inwestorom z Wielkiej Brytanii. = This factory has been sold to investors from the UK.

zostać (more or less to become) form is very formal - using być forms is less formal - Czy ten samochód jest już sprzedany? Is this car already sold

there is also so called impersonal construction - you can rephrase the former example to sound like this - Tą fabrykę sprzedano inwestorom z W. Brytanii. (translates exactly the same into English)
gumishu   
23 Jul 2014
Travel / How many days should I allow for a trip to Gdansk and a visit to another city? [6]

it takes 2 or 3 days two visit all places worth visiting in Gdańsk I guess , you can leave one day for just relaxing in cafes or pubs and spending some time on the beach - go to Jelitkowo or Brzeźno (they are parts of Gdańsk) to sea the Bay and the beach - you can dine there - they both have a good tram connection to the city centre - you may consider visiting Gdynia which as you probably know is just a shouting distance from Gdańsk (it takes about half an hour from Gdańsk Central Station to Gdynia Główna(main station) on the SKM city railroad) - it is enough to have a day for Gdynia - it has a museum ship (Błyskawica destroyer a historical object - remembers the war etc) and a big sea fauna aquarium just opposite of the museum ship aquarium.gdynia.pl

then you can go to Malbork which is some 50 or 60 km away from Gdańsk with a massive clay brick medieval Teutonic castle - it has a pretty good railway connection to Gdańsk - zamek.malbork.pl/index.php?lang=en

also read the 'similar threads' below this post
gumishu   
22 Jul 2014
History / Restoration of Poland's Monarchy? [40]

the foreign power which managed to buy the majority of the magnates and szlachta

i think you underestimate the numbers of szlachta - they were so numerous no foreing power can possibly bribe all of them or even a majority - this does not mean they could not have been manipulated
gumishu   
18 Jul 2014
Life / some poles play the Race games best! [38]

If they'd spat at me then the least i would have done is spit back at them.

he probably did just that and his friend ended up cut up with a knife

there are plenty of racist Poles indeed but fighting back is not a wisest thing to do
gumishu   
7 Apr 2014
Language / Perfective vs Imperfective - grammar [150]

When Jan arrived home he felt someone had been in the house

Gdy Jan dotarł do domu poczuł, że ktoś w nim był.

yes, you can understand the sentence in two different ways - there is an ambiguity here - it can be however diminished by rephrasing the sentence

Będąc już w domu Jan poczuł, że ktoś tam był. Being back home Jan felt somebody had been there.

Polish used to formerly have the like of plusquamperfect (czas zaprzeszły) but it's obsolete now - and it still wouldn't apply to the sentence in question
gumishu   
3 Apr 2014
Language / Variations of the verb Chodzić [11]

Is wchodzić used for anything other than climbing a ladder/stairs?

wchodzić/wejść means also to enter (walk into = w + chodzić) also in figurative meanings (Wchodzę w ten biznes)
gumishu   
24 Mar 2014
Life / Who's the singer in "The woman in the fifth" by Paweł Pawlikowski movie? [6]

idownload.com.pl/download/demarczyk_tomaszow_chwyty.zip - allegedly these are the chords for Tomaszów but I don't guarantee this

I have found the chords for Groszki i róże though - chords.pl/chwyty/ewademarczyk/5103,groszki_i_roze

I've just found one of her full vinyls on youtube



great sound quality
gumishu   
21 Mar 2014
UK, Ireland / Ukrainians getting Polish passports then emigrating to UK/other EU countries [6]

1 in 10 Poles in UK really Ukrainian is definitely a grand exeggeration - Ukrainians can enter the UK just like Poles used to one day: as tourists - and they can stay and work illegally afterwards just like many Poles prior to Polish access into the EU (I personally was one such Pole in the UK for a year)
gumishu   
8 Mar 2014
Language / How to say 'more' in various contexts [9]

Would it sound awkward to always use 'bardziej' rather than the comparative form of adjectives/adverbs? i.e. "Bardziej długo" rather than "dłużej".

yeah, it would sound pretty awkward - some people would have trouble getting grasp of you mean

How I understand it is that Więcej is used with nouns, and Bardziej with verbs, adverbs and adjectives.

pam's advice is perfect AFAICT
gumishu   
3 Mar 2014
News / Is this the first clear and open signal that Poland makes preparations for war with Russia? [163]

Barney

the fascists in Kiev removed the language rights of the majority there and some called for deportation of Russian speakers.

they didn't manage to form a government yet already managed to revoke the language rights for Russians in Crimea interesting very interesting - I wonder where you get your information from - looks like ITAR-TASS