Language / Want to learn Polish, already know some. [13]


Hard to say. I suspect that if you have the 'feeling' of the language, it should be relatively easy. I think you could try reading a book on a subject that you're interested in and see yourself how it goes.

If you find that you only need a dictionary than it may take just a few months to build your vocabulary. But if you find that you have also problems understanding the grammar then you should consider taking a language course.

Cinek

Language / Polish tattoo for the future (w piekle / raju) [6]


sounds a little too elaborate for me.
Id say:

Lepiej rządzić w piekle niż służyć w niebie.

Language / How to say "to waste money" in Polish slang? [7]


Przerąbać kasiorę
Przepieprzyć kasiorę (rude!)

Cinek

Po polsku / Kwestia o czasowniku wyładzić / wygładzić [3]

wiatry wieją
sosny krzywe
nieprzydatne
lecz prawdziwe

grajek piosnkę
z nich wyładzi
snem napoi
gwiazdkę zdradzi


Prawdopodobnie o to własnie chodzi tj. o znalezienie w chaosie porządku , który będzie tą piosnką.
Choć ten cały tekst brzmi trochą mętnie (przynajmniej dla mnie). To jest poezja, więc zastosowane są tu różne przenośnie i 'naginanie znaczeń' wyrazów.

Raczej na co dzień ten wyraz Ci się nie przyda ;-)

Cinek

Language / Polish language grammar books [59]


You could use them as a reference or additional information source when you need deeper explanation of some details,
but if you want to use books like these as the main method of learning, you'll gain nothing more than frustration.
To learn a language you need a tutor or a book that will introduce you the lang step by step, with a lot of exercises and examples.

Better try finding a Polish course in a lang school or a computer based course. Just search on PF, there are many examples, reviews and opinions on many books and programs.

Cinek

Language / i don't understand this, "rozmawianO" and "pitO"? [18]


Why do you think that polish grammar is disambiguous? I agree that this alone looks very odd, however imagine putting it (a little re-phrased) in context like this:

a. przepraszam, czy można?
b. proszę nie przeszkadzać, tu się teraz pracuje!
a. tak? a co dokładnie się robi?
b. tu sie teraz myje grób.

you still say that these sentences are grammatically incorrect or ambiguous?

Of course, I could imagine dialog like this only in a Bareja movie ore something like that, but I'm sure every Pole would understand it perfectly.

Cinek


It's exactly what I wanted to say.


and thanks for formal support :-)

Cinek (którego czasem do końca się nie rozumie, choć stara sie jak umie ;-)

Language / i don't understand this, "rozmawianO" and "pitO"? [18]


For present tense you use the 'robi się' construction instead:

Ten grób myje się teraz. - you don't translate this as 'the grave is cleaning itself' but "the grave is being cleaned', however in practice this construction is used mostly for habitual and repetitive actions e.g.:

Groby myje się zwykle przed Wszystkimi Świętymi - graves are usually cleaned before All Saints
śniadanie jada się rano - Breakfast is eaten in the morning
nie rozmawia się ze mną gdy jestem zajęty - hmm, I don't know how to translate this using Eng. passive voice but the meaning is more or less: I don't accept to be talked to (disturbed) when I'm busy

etc.

Cinek

Language / Beginner learner of Polish having trouble with nouns - they change as well as numbers? [27]


wyobraź to sobie, sobie....

youtube.com/watch?v=wkMBOAtboN8
Just could'n resist...;-)

Language / which one sounds better? widziałem/zobaczyłem [30]


I'd say it:
Kiedy spotkałem moją .... itd.

Using 'ujrzałem' here ephasizes that you were surprised when you met her. 'Spotkałem' is more neutral, unless you already described the circumstances of the event (e.g. you were both at the same place for some reason and now you're only describing the moment when you could start talking).

Anyways, as the other already said, 'ujrzałem/zobaczyłem" is perfectly understandable for Polish natives.

Cinek

Language / zostać: to remain *and* to become? [3]


We don't use it this way. We only use zostać - to became with nouns, not with adjectives, so:

Zostanę mistrzem
Będę (not zostanę) dobry w j polskim.

reg. 'to remain', we usually use 'pozostanę' if any ambiguity is possible, so e.g.:

Po studiach zostanę nauczycielem i pozostanę nim do emerytury.
After my study I'll became a teacher and will remain at that position until I'm retired.

Cinek

Language / how to say drum in polish? [7]

drum = bęben
small drum = bębenek
drum kit = perkusja (or more formally 'zestaw perkusyjny')

so the sentences could be:
Gram na bębnie (pl. bębnach)
Gram na bębenku (pl. bębenkach)
Gram na perkusji.

Cinek

Language / Where is that "something" that makes others think you are really good in language [141]


Right, might be a funny version of the old saying.

Cinek

Language / Co wy z tym żurkiem? / Terez dręczy mnie cały czas - Please correct my Polish. [12]


Teraz dręczy mnie cały czas.
Każdy wie.

Language / Questions about Jej vs. Swoje, ą and ę, and Latin similarities [27]


Yes, I didn't say the opposite. I just said that out of:

Jadę do mojej babci
and
Jadę do swojej babci

natives would choose the latter.
And of course, if context is clear enough, natives would just say "Jadę do babci"

Cinek

Language / Questions about Jej vs. Swoje, ą and ę, and Latin similarities [27]


Yes, but no native speaker would do.
We ALWAYS use 'swój' to express the subject's possession.

Cinek

Language / Using Polish declensions.. [14]


In most cases yes. But be prepared they can be often confused because Poles are used very much to it.
Keep your sentences simple, and should be ok.

Cinek

Language / The English 'To Get' & Dostać vs Otrzymać [15]


NO!

Jaką ocenę z języka polskiego otrzymałeś na świadectwie maturalnym?
Czy wyniki experymentów otrzymane ostatnio przez naukowców z CERNu rzeczywiście potwierdzają słuszność Modelu Standardowego jako opisu świata?
Czy to prawda, że dzieci, które otrzymuja więcej pochwał, osiągają w dorosłym życiu więcej sukcesów?

Have you ever tried to grab a note, result or a praise?

Cinek

Language / Using Polish declensions.. [14]


I'm afraid, there's no easy rules to explain it.
But at your level, you should only remember that the case depends on 2 factors:

1. All transitive verbs require their objects to be in particular case. YOU MUST LEARN THEM BY HEART. This means that when you learn a new (transitive) verb you must also learn the case it requires for the object.

In most cases it would be Accusative or Genetive for the direct object and Dative for the indirect object.

2. All prepositions require particular case(s) of the nouns they are standing before. YOU MUST LEARN THEM BY HEART. Every time you learn a preposition, besides its meaning you must also remember the case(s) i requires.

Sometimes you may notice that a proposition has several different meanings and requires different case for each one meaning e.g.:
w + locative = in
w + genetive = into

1+2. Some verbs require their object to be in particular case and to be prepended by a preposition. YOU MUST LEARN THEM BY HEART.
e.g.:
śmiać się z kogoś - to laugh at someone.

So, to summarize, always learn pairs: (verb + case) or (preposition + case).
And that's it :-)

Just keep learning and good luck.

Cinek

Language / What is the best way to say comfortable? [7]


I think 'Czuję się dobrze' would be most universal e.g.:

Czuje się z nimi dobrze,
Czuję się tu dobrze
Czuję się z tym dobrze

etc

Cinek

Language / z, ze and verbs - Genitive [11]

Z(e) is used as: 'from inside of something' or 'off something'.
Od means:
- 'from something's proximity' or
- 'from the direction of something' or
- 'from someone's possesstion into other's possession'

e.g.
On przyjechał z Krakowa - he came from Kraków (he was in (inside) Kraków)
on przyjechał od Krakowa - he came from the direction of Kraków (we dont' knoe where he was, but probably close to Kraków)

zejdź ze stołu - get off the table (he is sitting on it)
odejdź od stołu - get away of the table (he's standing next to it)

Notice the preposition - prefix aggreement here: odejdź od, zejdź ze

I hope this makes it a little bit easier.

Cinek

Language / Standard Polish taught in schools? [18]


Right! Sorry, I misread it.

I have a friend who comes from Lubin. He was a copper miner for some years.
Now we both live in Bydgoszcz and I can't hear any noticable difference in his speaking compared to other people around here.

Cinek

Language / Standard Polish taught in schools? [18]

Yes, only standard Polish is the primary education language in Poland. From what I know only kaszubski is taught as an additional language in some gminas and there are plans for śląski too.

Additionally, there are some schools that use Lithuanian for the Lithuanian minority in northern east areas, as well as some that use English (these are mostly for kids of foreigners who are here temporarily).

Reg. the dialects in Poland, the matter got a little complicated after WW2 because of mass migrations of people from the former eastern parts of Poland to the west. Lublin is traditionally situated in the area of dialect małopolski, but you must keep in mind that it's very hard to find anyone speaking 'pure dialect' these days in Poland.

gwarypolskie.uw.edu.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=se ction&id=8&Itemid=18

Cinek

Language / What a krzyki! Is someone messin' with some automated translation services? [5]

InWroclaw
Reg the MS Live Search, I think the translation software is just poor quality.
On the page you referenced it also mistranslated 'Dolnośląskie' as 'Poland' and 'Numer referencyjny ogłoszenia' as 'reference no posts' (should be 'post's reference no').

And reg. the graffiti, it can be just local youth slang. People sometimes do it just for fun.

Cinek

Language / What a krzyki! Is someone messin' with some automated translation services? [5]

Why one would want to translate the name at all? The place is called Krzyki, no matter what language are you using.
Can you imagine a Pole visiting the US and asking where is the place called "Anioły" or "Kolumb" or "Bawół"?

Cinek

Language / Common errors in Polish grammar or spelling [26]


oups!

This has nothing to do with consonants/vowels. The actual rule is:

nie/nich (and all n- versions) after prepositions and je/ich otherwise. eg:

widzę ich, widzę je, uszukał go

but

idę do nich, wjechał w nich, zrobił to bez niego

The n- versions can often be chortened to just '-ń'

e.g.:

doń = do niego, do nich ...
weń = w nie, w niego, w nich ...
podeń = pod nie (but nie pod nimi !!!)
etc.

Cinek

Language / rukes in if [8]


Depending on the (gramatical) gender of the thing in your question it'll be
czyj, czyja and czyje for masc, fem, and neuter respectively.

e.g.
Czyj jest ten stół (masc.)?
Whose is this table?

Czyja jest ta książka (fem.)?
Whose is this book?

Czyje jest to pióro (neuter)?
Whose is this pen?

... and for plural it'll be czyi and czyje for masculine personal and the other respectively:

Czyi to sa synowie (masc. pers)?
Whose sons are they?

Czyje to są zabawki?
Whose are these toys?

BTW. If you don't know which form to use you can always use 'kogo?' instead of every of them, but remember that this will sound a little colloquial.

Cinek

Language / Confusion with the verb być [21]


To jest pod stołem.

Actually, it'd be instrumental because 'pod' (under) requires that case.
Locative is used with 'w', 'na', 'przy'.

Don't take the rule 'location requires locative' too strict. It only describes some 'general idea' how the language works, but life is usually more complicated... ;-)

Cinek

Language / Polish war cries/battle sayings [21]

Na plasterki!!!!

Language / Film about Polish people in Jordan - audio file translation [5]

Does Ivona have speech recognition? I think it can only do text to speech, and mimz is looking for software to do it the other way around.

Post your file somewhere (e.g. youtube.com) and I'm sure someone will script it for you or even translate too.

Cinek

Language / Polish saying about spider webs? [21]


Błogosławiony dom w którym pająki są.

whatever that means.... ;-)

Cinek