Language / I teach English to some Polish people - how to explain them tenses? [33]


Right, my mistakes just confirms that English tenses is a complicated matter for Poles :-)
I should have used 'already' instead of 'yet'.


Yes, I know. I just wanted to find anything that is just a little similar to them in Polish to start with.

Cinek

Language / I teach English to some Polish people - how to explain them tenses? [33]


Yes, your explanation is good, but belive me, it's not easy to grasp for someone who doesn't have it in their language (compare the prefective/imperfective verbs in Polish and all the questions people are asking on PF again and again).

I think that showing a similarity to something one already knows is much better than explaining a completely new term (at least for me :-) )

Cinek

Language / I teach English to some Polish people - how to explain them tenses? [33]


There's one way that may work for you. In colloqual Polish (at least in my area) people sometimes use construction like: 'Mam coś zrobione' (which is probably a borrowing from German - Ich habe gemacht). I noticed that this works much like English present perfect for transitive verbs e.g.:

I have done it yet = Mam to już zrobione. (in standard Polish it'd be 'Zrobiłem to już')
I have done it since yesterday = Mam to już zrobione od wczoraj. (st. P. Zrobiłem to wczoraj)
Have you done your homework? = Masz już odrobione lekcje? (st.P. Odrobiłeś lekcje?)

It works with some other transitive verbs too:

Have you cleaned up your room? = Czy masz już posprzątany pokój?
Yes. I have cleaned it up for an hour. = Tak, mam już posprzątane od godziny.
I have eaten everything yet. = Mam już wszystko zjedzone.
I have finished my work. = Mam już skończoną pracę.
etc.

The key here is the use of 'mam' (I have) which is in present (not past) tense. So they'll never say anything like 'I have done it yesterday' because it's also wrong in Polish 'Mam to zrobione wczoraj' (should be 'Mam to zrobione od (since) wczoraj'.

The intransitive verbs may be more problematic though. There's nothing in Polish like 'He has gone' or 'I have been here for a minute'. However, once understood for transitives, it may be easier to to grasp for intransitives too.

It worked for me when I was learning the basics of English, but I live in the former German-Polish borderland, and that 'Mam zrobione' construction is in common use here and well understood. I don't know if it's so in the other parts of Poland, but you can try it.

Cinek

Language / may/might (expression) [25]


It's just short for 'być może' which means literarily 'may be'.

Cinek

Language / Why 'działka'? [10]


This also may mean 'a portion of some substance', mostly drugs e.g.

Kupił dwie działki marychy od dilera pod szkołą.

He bought two portions of marijuana from a dealer by the school.

Cinek

Language / Are the languages of Russian and Polish similar at all? [94]


Only if you are a native Russian speaker. If you just want to take a few hours because you don't want to waste your time, then no. It will be wasting your time. Instead, try watching Polish movies (e.g. on youtube) or listening to the radio. You won't understand much but you'll learn the 'melody' of the language and will get used to the sounds that are used (e.g. sz, ś, ą, ę, ż etc.) It will be more helpful when you start the learning in a future.

Cinek

Language / The correct usage for the word "since" [5]


No, just the meaning may depend on the context and there's no one to one translation for those words that always works.

Cinek

Language / Czego, Czemu, Co, Kto, Jak, Dlaczego? [64]


In fact, saying 'O co panu chodzi' may not be polite in many situations.
The better expression would be 'Co ma Pan/Pani na myśli' or just ' nie rozumiem co Pan/Pani mówi'. This sentence can be used any time you don't understand what someone means or just you don't understand the words they are using.

If you say 'O co panu chodzi' it's a "higher level" of confusion when you have completely no idea what's going on (like: what the f..k are you talking about ???)

cinek

Language / The correct usage for the word "since" [5]


You can also use 'od' in that context in sentences like:

I've been working on it since yesterday.
Pracuję nad tym od wczoraj.

The use of od/odkąd depends on how you express the moment in time something has been (being) done since. If you use a noun then in Polish you use 'od' but if you use some descriptive expression (another setence) then in polish it'd be 'odkąd'. e.g.:

since yesterday - od wczoraj
since last Summer - od zeszłego lata

but:

since he came - odkąd przyjechał
since the bought the new car - odkąd kupił sobie ten nowy samochód...

odkąd = od kiedy

e.g.:

since I met you - od kiedy cię poznałem


Yes. Also you can use 'bo', 'dlatego, że' etc.

Cinek

Language / spotykac/poznawac [6]

Poznać = to get to know

Cinek

Language / When to use: Znać/Wiedzieć & lub/albo [23]


'Dowiadywać' means 'to learn' in context like:

I learned he's comming today.
Dowiedziałem się że on przyjeżdża dzisiaj.

It means to learn some particular information about something or how to do something etc.
In more general contexts (gathering knowledge) we use 'uczyć się'.

Eg:

Ucząc się języka polskiego dowiedziałem się co to są przypadki rzeczownika.
When I was learning Polish I learned what cases of noun is.

Cinek

Language / będzie potrafił? [34]

I think the easiest (though not perfect) way to understand the difference is to remember that 'wiem' expresses what you have in your mind while 'umiem' says about skills of your body (I know, it's often the same :-).

e.g.
Wiem jak się jeździ na rowerze (trzeba usiąść na sidodełku, trzymać kierownicę i pedałować)

ale

nie umiem tego robić (bo mam problem z utrzymaniem równowagi)

Cinek

Language / będzie potrafił? [34]


Can you give me at least one example in contemporary language where the perfective features can be seen?

Cinek

Language / Is czarnoskóry acceptable? [21]


Neither are 'baba', 'blondynka' or 'kobieta' when talking about someone who is not driving a car... Of course, every word may change its meaning when put in a specific context.

Cinek

Language / będzie potrafił? [34]


.
So, 'potrafię' is present or future ? If it was dokonany than it must be future... No?


Wikipedia:
"...Dopiero na początku XIX wieku, w latach 1807-1814, ukazało się w Warszawie sześciotomowe dzieło. Jego autorem był cudzoziemiec z pochodzenia, Samuel Bogumił Linde..."

What language are we talking about? Maybe Mickewicz or Słowacki could use 'potrafić' as a perfective verb among 'kobita', 'tuszę', 'mocium panie', 'spuść się na mnie' and 'pociot'.


So what wrong with sentence like this:

Po zrealizowaniu programu nauczania przedmiotu ... uczeń będzie potrafił ...


Exactly.

You didn't convince me. In todays Polish 'potrafić' is a pure imperfective verb. In the past it my have been a perfective po-trafić, but it's not so any more.

Cinek

Language / będzie potrafił? [34]


NO! (Occam's razor)

Language / będzie potrafił? [34]


This is because you mean: 'udało mi (perf.) się wejść na drzewo (dlatego że potrafiłem-potrafię (imperf.) to robić )'.
'Potrafić' describes your abilities, not your actions.

Cinek

Language / będzie potrafił? [34]


I'd say it's just an imperfective verb (with no the perfective counterpart) and creating a third cathegory of verb (neither perfective nor imperfective) is not needed here and makes some confusion.

'Potrafić' means to have some ability that someone has or has not (it's not like an action that can be finished (perfective) or not (imperfective)). That verb can be used in present tense, which is a pure 'imperfective' feature in Polish.

Cinek

Language / Pronunciation question - glottal stops [6]


yes

Cinek

Language / to go s/where [13]


No, it's just perfective version of iść.

Cinek

Language / Jeszcze or wciaz? [10]


It does. See that:

- Czy on już wrócił?
- Nie, jeszcze go nie ma.

vs.

- Czy on już wrócił?
- Nie, wciąż go nie ma... (hmm, did anything bad happen?)

Don't you feel the fear in the last sentence ?

Cinek

Language / Jeszcze or wciaz? [10]


I'd say that 'wciąż' just adds some emotions to your expression, while 'jeszcze' only indicates the 'timing'. E.g.:

Wciąż ci cię chce tu pracować?
Do you still want to work here? (even though nobody else wants...)

Tyle razy ci to mówiłem, a ty wciąż nie pamiętasz!
I told you it so many times, but you still don't remember!

'Wciąż' also may mean 'always' e.g.:

Wciąż ci powtarzam, nie pij tyle!
I always tell you, dont' drink so much!

you shoudl also know that wciąż = ciągle e.g.:

Ciągle pada i pada...
It's still raining and raining...

Cinek

Language / Is czarnoskóry acceptable? [21]


The media didn't mention he's skin color because it matters for them, but because it used to matter for Americans. So they were just saying: Look, America is changing.

That's all.

And a word about political correctness. We (Poles and many other nations) don't need to feel the same guilt that Americans feel because of enslaving black people in the past. So don't extend your political corectness to our language. It's your guilt and your expiation. Not ours.

Cinek

Language / "Idę do kolegi." - Polish prepositions/and translation [17]


This desn't translate as 'Ide...'
the translation will be:

Wkurza mnie kiedy on śpiewa tę piosenkę.

'Go nuts' is an idiom, and cannot be translated literally.

Cinek

Language / "Idę do kolegi." - Polish prepositions/and translation [17]

Those should be translated as: Chodzę do szkoły codziennie, Chodzę na zakupy co tydzień, Jeżdżę na nartach zimą.
I think there's no example when idę means I go. It always translates as I'm going.

Cinek

Language / What does 'inflected' mean? [4]


If words are inflected their endings change according to case, person, tense, etc. In Polish there are 7 cases and 5 persons that influence how nouns and adjectives look like i.e. they require applying appropriate endings to them. Similarily 3 tenses and things like aspect and mood influence verbs (their endings and also used prefixes).

This subject is very well explained in Wikipedia.

Cinek

Language / When do you use 'się'? And what does it mean? [37]


Yes, but there are also some verbs that require 'się' for no abvious reson. Those just must be memorized. e.g.:

śmiać się, smucić się, cieszyć się, pocić się, najeść się, napić się, wyspać się itp.

Of course one could find an explanation for them in history of the language, but it's not what an average user o the language needs to know.

Cinek

Language / Present tense, past tense, past participle in polish [34]


Gdy przyszłam, mój mąż przygotował obiad.
Zanim przyszłam, mój mąż przygotował obiad.

Some people would also say (for the latter):

Gdy przyszłam, mój mąż miał już przygotowany obiad.

but I'm not sure if this is a correct construction, since it looks more like a borrowing from German or English. However it's quite common in my area (west Poland).

Cinek

Language / When to use: Znać/Wiedzieć & lub/albo [23]


Not in todays coloquial speech, but you can find some in poetry or old songs:

Tra la la Antek na harmonii gra.
Tra la la on przebierać klawo zna.
Tra la la baw się bracie póki czas,
Skoroś dzisiaj na zabawę,
Do nas tutaj wlazł.

here: zna = potrafi

btw.

What about "znać się na czymś" ?

Cinek

Language / udać, udać się "confusion" [5]


Hmm, I don't know anything like that. You can use 'udać się' with a verb which means 'to succeed' e.g.:

Udało mi się to narysować - I succeeded in drawing it.

When you mean 'udać się' as 'to go' you must always include the direction, which will be a noun preceded by a preposition (like do, na, w kierunku, ku, etc.) e.g.

Udał się do domu - He went home.

You can only use 'udać' (not udać się) with a noun, which means 'to pretend' or 'to act' e.g.

Udawał głupka - he acted the fool.

Cinek

Cinek