Language / in Polish slang, what is the difference between Siema and Siemka? [64]


Would you really like to be called like that? ;-) (you know what I mean: .izda)
I think a better (and the only I've ever heard) example would be 'Justycha'.

Other examples:

Kasia - Kacha (Katy)
Gosia - Gocha (Maggie)
Basia - Bacha (Barbara)
Zosia - Zocha (Sophie)
poduszka - poducha (pillow)
gruszka - grucha (pear)
dziewczyna - dziewucha (girl)

i tak dalej.

Cinek

Language / in Polish slang, what is the difference between Siema and Siemka? [64]


Nothing but the sounding.


Of course, but please remember that what is allowed in talking between friends not always should be used in other situation.

I didn't want to say that you were any wrong with your examples. I just wanted to point out that the ending -izda may be not the best example for people learning Polish, and gave a much more common ending -cha as more useful.

Cinek

Genealogy / Why Polish aren't white?? [272]


That text is about history of Tatra region (some small part of Polish highlands), not Poland.
If you real want to learn history of Poland you can try on Wikipedia e.g.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland

Cinek

Language / A Polish female name (anna) [16]


Maybe it was Joanna? There's nothing like ulanna in Polish (but 'ulana', which may mean completely drunk ;-) ).

Cinek

Language / 'MOZNA' - When is this used? [27]


Not exactly. It can be used in such contexts, but for better understanding it'd translate it like: Is it allowed? or Is it possible? or Is it doable? It may also be used to answer there questions like:

(Czy) Można? (Tak,) można. Is it allowed? Yes, it is.

Gramatically, it is so called 'predykatyw' (not sure if it can be translated as 'predivative', because Wikipedia defines it a bit differently).
These words work in sentences as verbs, but are not verbs (i.e. they do not conjugate), and are used to describe some 'general state', not someone actions.

There are quite a few in Polish. e.g. można, trzeba, wiadomo, widać, słychać. They form tenses by using an auxiliary verb 'być' in the appropriate tense. E.g.:

Present Można - it is allowed to...
Past Można było (or było można) = it was allowed to...
Future Można będzie (or będzie można) = it will be allowed to...

They are a little similar in their function to adverbs, and historically they probably were adverbs.

Cinek

Language / ch - antychryst - chłeb [13]

In Polish 'ch' is always pronounced 'h' and never 'k' . If you hear something else then it is definitely a language error or just poor quality audio.

Cinek

Language / ch - antychryst - chłeb [13]


I hear clearly 'h' not 'k' here. Maybe soemthing's wrong with your speakers? Are you using headphones or loudspeakers? Try with another ones.

Cinek

Language / Polish nouns of unpredictable gender [50]


ekspansywność, mość and przewielebność are feminine


kmieć, dziegieć, śmieć, Turkuć Podjadek, kapeć, pypeć, berbeć


Most speakers would say just 'anylopa gnu' which would be feminine (antylopa). But if you want to say just 'gnu' then yes, it's neuter.

Cinek

Language / Polish nouns of unpredictable gender [50]


"kmieć" yes, but "berbeć" can be either a boy or a girl.


Yes, but remember that the -u words don't decline in Polish, so people woud tend to use it with a 'declinable' word (like in the 'gnu' - 'antylopa gnu' example). In such cases the auxiliary word would imply the gender.

Cinek

Language / Polish nouns of unpredictable gender [50]


yes, this is what my reply was about :-)

Language / Polish nouns of unpredictable gender [50]


I found one: Gołdap. There may be also other names of towns or villages.

Language / ch - antychryst - chłeb [13]


Do you mean that Polish h sound is not a h sound ? So what is it? How much h sound in h sound is needed so it can be a h sound ?

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

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 / 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 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 / 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 / "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 / "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 / 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 / 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 / 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 / to go s/where [13]


No, it's just perfective version of iść.

Cinek

Language / Pronunciation question - glottal stops [6]


yes

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 / 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]


NO! (Occam's razor)

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 / 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]


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

Cinek