Life / Would getting a PW tattoo be seen as disrespectful in Poland? [7]

It's not even slightly disrespectful and I second everything written above. As a Pole, I can say that I feel honoured knowing that someone can still find a great inspiration in our history, as it seems you learned a lot before choosing the Polska Walcząca symbol.

The ideology behind it, simplified, was to never give up and reach for the freedom, therefore as a person who struggles with chronical depression I understand your choice. Besides that, there were many foreigners fighting for Poland back then. I didn't find any good version in English, but here's my rough translation from an excerpt taken straight from the Warsaw Uprising Museum's site (I'm not a native English speaker so sorry in advance for any mistakes):

"Along with the Poles, numerous representatives of other nationalities were fighting in the Warsaw Uprising. From the very first hours of the fight, in pursuance of the slogan "for our freedom and yours", they joined the Polish units. Among them, there were foreigners living in Warsaw before the war, soldiers escaped from POW camps, refugees from the forced labour in the Reich, as well as deserters from the German and Red armies. The most numerous among foreigners were Slovaks, Hungarians and French volunteers. There were also a few Belgian, Dutch, Greek, British and Italian people, one Romanian and one Australian."

1944.pl/o_muzeum/ekspozycja/1_pietro/39_obcokrajowcy_w_powstaniu/?lang=pl

There was even a Nigerian man (who was working as a jazzman in Warsaw before the outbreak of the war) participating in the Uprising, of a nickname Ali.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Agbola_O%27Browne

The point is, you don't have to be Polish to fight for Poland nor to embrace the meaning behind PW sign.

Language / Perfective vs Imperfective - grammar [150]

To be fair, this is pretty clear. But in Polish we use much more phrases determining the time, like "wcześniej", "przedtem", "w tamtym momencie"etc. to make things more obvious.

Few examples, all correct:

1. Będąc już w domu, Jan poczuł, że ktoś tam był.
2. Będąc już w domu, Jan poczuł, że ktoś tam wcześniej był.
3. Będąc już w domu, Jan poczuł, że ktoś tam musiał być.
4. Będąc już w domu, Jan poczuł, że ktoś tam jest.

How do you understand them?

[BTW don't forget about the comma after "Będąc już w domu", it's a dependent clause - and yeah, there are a lot of commas in Polish writing and a lot of people don't think about half of them]

Hope it's more clear now. Especially as it comes to feelings, we don't change the tense of the subortinate part of sentence. For example:

Jan poczuł, że jest głodny.
[Jan felt that he was hungry.]
Dopiero po zjedzeniu poczuł, jak bardzo był głodny.
[Only after eating he felt how much he had been hungry.]

Language / Perfective vs Imperfective - grammar [150]


Since it's in the past (learnt), the corrrect and more natural-sounding (at least to me) sentence would be:
Podczas kursu każdego dnia uczył się dziesięCIU nowych słów/słówek.


Exactly. But you always could add for example the word "wcześniej":)
Będąc już w domu, Jan poczuł, że ktoś tam wcześniej był.

Language / Perfective vs Imperfective - grammar [150]

OR if it's an repetitive future event:
W przyszłym miesiącu będę jeźdźić na delegacje do Warszawy.
(several times in the next month)


It could be for example:
Od przyszłego miesiąca jeżdżę na podróże służbowe do Warszawy.
(I will be regularly going there, starting next month - we don't know for how long)

Language / Correct way of saying "Again please"? [7]

"Proszę powtórzyć" is rather a formal phrase, followed by more polite-sounding "Mógłby Pan powtórzyć? / Mogłaby Pani powtórzyć?".

When talking to friends or close family (of similar age or younger), it's perfectly normal to ask "Jeszcze raz?" or just to say "Powtórz. / Powtórz proszę."

The most common I use and hear are variations of "Możesz powtórzyć?"

News / Germany returns WW2 loot to Poland [14]

There's a whole website dedicated to the wartime losses: MKiDN. They are putting there plenty of photographs with descriptions from the pre-war albums/catalogues/etc. but a lot of art wasn't documented that well.

Language / A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects. [64]

A little thing for the very beginners:

Some time ago I stumbled across a nice video about (I'd say) the very basic concept of declension from an 'English' perspective - it's very short and recorded in relation to Czech language but on that level (it's only about the concept of declension really) the word 'Czech' in the video could be actually replaced by 'Polish':

youtube.com/watch?v=NdePxj9J3NA

Sharing, because recently it has helped a friend of mine to understand how awesome declension is:P

The point is: in Polish language (or Czech and many others) the order of words in a sentence isn't as important as in English.

The author of the video shows a simple example:
Dog bites man.
Man bites dog.
Everything's clear in the two sentences above - we know who does the biting and who is being bitten, because it's stressed out by the position in the sentence.

In Polish we don't have to care so much about the position (or raising the tone of voice to emhasize something) in the sentence.

We use declension to show the relations between subjects and objects.
The examples from above would be adequately:
Pies gryzie człowieka.
Człowiek gryzie psa.
The subject doing the action (biting) is in Nominative case - so 'normal' (pies, człowiek). But the object that's being bitten has to be declined to show the subject's 'relation' to it. In this example it's biernik - Accusative (whom does he/she bite? psa, człowieka). Position in a sentence isn't as important, because we have all the informations gathered within the grammar.

The first sentence:
Pies gryzie człowieka.
could be also written for example in those ways:
Pies człowieka gryzie.
Człowieka gryzie pies.
Gryzie pies człowieka.
and it still means exactly the same - dog bites man - because the declined object (człowieka) always shows which one is bitten.

It takes a long time in the beginning to learn how to 'unwrap' the sentences in your mind, find the relations between nouns (who is doing the action, who is being affected by the action, what is being possessed, and so on). Krecik wrote a very good list of the basic rules:)

Language / A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects. [64]

Well, if it helps, you can't forget that there's always a difference between male and female nouns.
odpowiedź (f.) -> odpowiedzi
zapowiedź (f.) -> zapowiedzi
łabędź (m.) -> łabędzie
śledź (m.) -> śledzie

The pączek case is a relatively easy rule, considering that (traditionally) -ek ending was added to create diminutive forms:)
-ek ALWAYS becomes -ki in plural forms, that's just the rule (at least i cannot think of any particular exceptions at the moment).
(pąk ->) pączek -> pączki
(znak ->) znaczek -> znaczki
(robak ->) robaczek -> robaczki
(szlak ->) szlaczek -> szlaczki
Some of the diminutive words from above gained a new meaning over time, like "pączek" isn't a small bloom bud only, but the sweet treat everyone knows:) (they were traditionally filled with rosebud jam in the past)

Language / How to say 'more' in various contexts [9]

nouns - więcej
adverbs and adjectives - bardziej

As it comes to verbs, you could use both depending on the verb - więcej to describe more quantity (Powinnam więcej ćwiczyć. - I should work out more.) and bardziej to describe the quality/attitude/feelings (Powinnam bardziej się starać. - I should try/strive to do sth more.)

You'd say:
Jeżdżę więcej od ciebie. - I drive more than you do.
but e.g.
Kocham bardziej od ciebie. - I love more than you do.

News / Is this the first clear and open signal that Poland makes preparations for war with Russia? [163]

Maybe we should write more about people in Russia who were protesting against a war and were immediately arrested?

channelnewsasia.com/news/world/russian-anti-war/1017688.html
rferl.org/content/dozens-arrested-at-moscow-antiwar-pr otest/25282578.html
newrepublic.com/article/116816/whataboutism-russia-protests-against-war-ukraine

Poland is not preparing "for" a war with Russia. At most, Poland is now preparing for a defense, "just in case".

Travel / I would like to take my two sons to Poland for a holiday - Any ideas? [9]


There are for example buses like San Bus directly from Kraków to Solina (to Polańczyk village).

I forgot: yes, july/august would be perfect for swimming. I'd only avoid most of the Polish sea resorts during those months - tend to be terribly overcrowded and expensive.

Travel / I would like to take my two sons to Poland for a holiday - Any ideas? [9]

My first choice would be Bieszczady holidays.staypoland.com/bieszczady-mountains.aspx (Lake Solina would be perfect, I've been there) or Mazury Lakes.

Genealogy / My grandmother's last name was Krolik, is this name Jewish? [66]


Królik means rabbit.
Around the 15th Century it was also used to describe a ruler (not king) of a small state, but that word had derogatory undertones. It does not mean "king", but it could be translated as someone "king-ish"(?).


It's not a "Jewish" name, but to be precise it's a Polish name that was used/borrowed by the Jews in the process of assimilation. Calling "Jewish" those surnames from the JewishGen that have Polish roots/etymology is a vast misunderstanding in most of the cases. Your family could have Jewish roots, there's always such a possibility, but relying on the simple fact of surname's appearance in the records could be a blind alley of your research if there's no actual person related to your ancestors.


The split of your family could have political reasons. Many of the soldiers or people honored with similar distinctions - people that stayed abroad (or moved abroad) after the war - were cutting off the contacts with the family left in Poland. It could have been because of different political views, but often just for the family's safety. During the first decades of communism in Poland it wasn't well-perceived to have a family in the "capitalistic" West (unless someone was willing to "cooperate" if you know what I mean) or a family member that was a soldier in Polish military (such person might have had the information about e.g. Soviet attack on Poland in 1939, which was a forbidden knowledge until the fall of communism). Both cases could result in series of brutal interrogations of the family left in Poland by communistic militia. It's still a delicate topic in Poland.

The split of your family might have tons of similar reasons, not necessarily on personal basis. Political/worldview matters should be considered too.

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]


:D
Indeed :P

przemysł = industry
There's also a name Przemysław which comes from an older version Przemysł.
Word przemysł in old-Polish was a noun meaning ingenuity, cleverness.

Przemyśl = name of the city near Polish-Ukrainian border
myśleć -> przemyśleć = a verb meaning: to think through / to reflect on [sth]

Travel / Places of interest on route from Katowice - Lodz - Gdansk [7]


This site pretty much covers most of the interesting places in Lower Silesia voivodeship:
golowersilesia.pl/en/category/20-sightseeing

To the must-see castles I'd add the one in Bolków:)

If you're interested in strongholds, take some time to visit Nysa, Kłodzko and Srebrna Góra (the last is said to be one of the largest strongholds of that type in Europe).

As it comes to the further travel to the north (on the way to Gdańsk), personally I'd visit places like Biskupin, old cities in Poznań, Gniezno, Bydgoszcz and Toruń, Malbork Castle(!)

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]

Learn the basics first!:) What you recalled above is a declination of the word "rok" in different grammar cases. Numerals that describe a noun ("rok" in this situation) have to be declined adequately in the same grammar case.

The "base" I wrote as an example is in mianownik (nominative):
It's year 2014. -> Jest (który rok?) dwa tysiące czternasty rok.

The 1st example you wrote "dwa tysiące czternastego roku" occurs when e.g. you describe a precise day of the year, therefore "rok" is in dopełniacz (genitive):

Today is 15th Feb [of the year] 2014 -> Dzisiaj jest piętnasty stycznia (którego roku?) dwa tysiące czternastego roku.

The 2nd example you wrote "w dwa tysiące czternastym roku" - when you e.g. describe a situation which happened in a particular year, therefore "rok" is in miejscownik (locativus):

It happened in the year 2014. -> To stało się (w którym roku?) w dwa tysiące czternastym roku.

Declination with examples of "help" questions:
mianownik: rok (jest który rok?) - > dwa tysiące czternasty rok
dopełniacz: roku (jest dzień którego roku?) - > dwa tysiące czternastego roku
celownik: rokowi (przyglądam się któremu rokowi?) - > dwa tysiące czternastemu rokowi
biernik: rok (lubię który rok?) - > dwa tysiące czternasty rok
narzędnik: rokiem (z którym rokiem?) - > [z] dwa tysiące czternastym rokiem
miejscownik: roku (w którym roku?) - > [w] dwa tysiące czternastym roku
wołacz: roku! - > dwa tysiące czternasty roku!


*lutego

[sorry, I was writing too quickly, apparently my mind is still in January]

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]


Correct is język as described: IPA: [ˈjɛ̃w̃zɨk], AS: [i ̯ẽũ̯zyk]

I wrote clearly that "jenzyk" in an example of a dialect-based pronunciation, a simplification, therefore not correct if you want to learn a "clear" Polish language.


Someone who is 102th = singular form, "which one?" -> sto drugi
102 boys = plural form, "how many?" -> stu dwóch

Singular forms answering the question "which one?" in mianownik [ordinal numbers] are quite simple:
the very basic rule is to conjugate only the last digit of the number (or two digits if a decimal number is last in the row) that is other than zero.

Here's example of saying which year is it:
Year 2000 -> rok dwutysięczny
Year 2014 -> rok dwa tysiące czternasty
Year 1002 -> rok tysiąc drugi
Year 1256 -> rok tysiąc dwieście pięćdziesiąty szósty
Year 1200 -> rok tysiąc dwusetny

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]

That's obvious:) On the other hand I probably still have a kind of "foreign accent" as I'm not a native English speaker;)

The point is to learn how the natives understand their language and ideas behind the words. That's why I'm trying to clarify the idea of "potrafię", it just would sound too silly or even unintelligibly if used in a wrong way.

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]

Potrafię implies the skills/abilities you learned or trained yourself (I know how to), like:
potrafię play the guitar, potrafię draw and paint, potrafię bake a cake, potrafię do a backflip, etc.
Little kids often yell "Potrafię zrobić to sam/sama!" = I [already] can do it myself!

If you're saying "Potrafię dojechać pociągiem" it sounds like a kid moaning "But I know how to get there by train, I can do it myself";)

In such situations we use "Mogę dojechać pociągiem" = I can go by train (meaning: I have the possibility of going by tran, it will be convenient/suitable for me to go by train today)

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]


Yes, that's the point:) She'd rather say "Nie znam angielskiego" = I can't even say/understand a word in English. A person who "mówi po angielsku" would at least try to communicate:)

Both phrases are clear - everyone will understand that a person saying one of them can't speak English. Still, there's a tiiiny difference between the meaning of them, difference that is getting lost in the everyday language (sadly).

As it comes to the phrases meaning to ride a horse - I know the difference that I wrote about before from the people who are riding horse professionally. The best example: they would say "Jeżdżę konno" to tell that they ride a horse professionally (they are jockeys/it's their hobby/they do it often) versus "Idę pojeździć na koniu" to tell they are going out to ride a horse now (just the act of riding a horse). A person learning to ride a horse "uczy się jeździć na koniu" (the beginnings - how to - usually with a qualified teacher that holds the horse on a line - learns just the act of riding a horse) while later "uczy się jeździć konno" (by him/herself - the actual horseback riding in the open space). That's all I know:)

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]


Why? It is normal. "Nie znam angielskiego" = I can't even say a word in English, "Nie mówię po angielsku" (or e.g. "Nie mówię dobrze po angielsku") = I maybe know a few phrases, but I can't use English fluently / I don't speak English on a daily basis.


There's also a slight difference, for example: "Nie potrafię jeździć na koniu" = I can't even keep myself on the saddle, I probably never rode a horse before, "Nie potrafię jeździć konno" = I can't ride a horse (professionally by implication).

Polish language is very rich and full on nuances.

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]


It would be definitely: Dzisiaj nie jestem w stanie dojechać pociągiem na zajęcia = I'm not (physically) able to take the train to class today.

Potrafię - is used about the things we learned to do, the knowledge/skills.
Potrafię gotować - I can cook = I already learned how to cook.
Potrafię jeździć na koniu - I can ride a horse = I already learned how to ride a horse.
Also: Nie potrafię mówić po polsku - I can't speak Polish = I didn't learn [yet] how to speak Polish

Potrafię could be replaced by umiem in most of the cases.

Just thought of another difference between "być w stanie" and "móc".

Nie jestem w stanie dojechać samochodem. - I can't go by car. = I'm not physically able to do it, e.g. I'm sick, have broken leg or the car is broken (things aren't exactly dependant on my will - physical obstacles).

Nie mogę dojechać samochodem. - I can't go by car. = I possibly have other plans and cannot change them just like that, it would be too difficult for me to go by car.

BONUS:
Nie potrafię dojechać samochodem. - I can't go by car. = I just don't know how to drive a car.

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]

Will THIS Polish article help as it comes to numbers? It has a pretty helpful set of the most basic examples and it's hard for me to find anything similar in English at the moment..

As Wlodzimierz mentioned, it always depends on the
1. number (different rules for the 1, 2, 3-4, 5-10, 11-40, 50-90, 100-400 and 500-900 groups of numbers),
2. noun's gender
3. and the grammatical case.
A good table of the numbers 1-10 for all grammatical cases is HERE: grzegorj.w.interia.pl/gram/pl/liczeb02.html - it's in Polish again (sorry), but table itself is kinda easy to depict and it has examples for all the basic genders: męskoosobowy (pan), męskożywotny (pies), męskonieżywotny (stół), żeński (pani), nijaki osobowy/żywotny (dziecko), nijaki nieosobowy/nieżywotny (drzewo).

The simple example Wlodzimierz has started is in Mianownik and would go like:
(I chose pani=lady and pan=gentleman)
Jedna pani (Polka) szła / Jeden pan szedł / Jedno dziecko szło.
Dwie panie (Polki) szły / Dwaj panowie szli OR Dwóch panów szło [yes, that second form is acceptable] / Dwoje dzieci szło.

Trzy panie (Polki) szły / Trzej panowie szli OR Trzech panów szło / Troje dzieci szło.
Cztery panie (Polki) szły / Czterej panowie szli OR Czterech panów szło / Czworo dzieci szło.
Then it goes easier with the numbers 5-10, at least as it comes to the verb:
Pięć (sześć, ..., dziewięć, dziesięć) pań (Polek) szło / Pięciu (sześciu, ..., dziewięciu, dziesięciu) panów szło / Pięcioro (sześcioro, ..., dziewięcioro, dziesięcioro) dzieci szło.

Aaaand another gem for people who know at least a bit of Polish language: "Liczebnik polski" where you can type a number, choose the gender & grammatical case - and you'll get the right form of the cardinal number.


Well, the simple answer is: you should always pronounce "ą" and "ę" correctly:)

Saying "jenzyk", "czensto" or cutting it at the end of a word like in: "sie", "cie", "pójde", "zrobie" (instead of "się", "cię", "pójdę", "zrobię") etc. is ALWAYS a form of dialect or regionalizm and if a TV presenter says so, it just shows his/her region of origin (or, according to some *cough* mean people, their "peasant background" which is a terrible misinformation in most of the cases) and a possibility of him/her being just a social climber who didn't attend the (theoretically necessary) diction training;) That's, sadly, the harsh truth.

You don't want to learn a dialect - you want to learn a "clear" Polish language. As Wlodzimierz wrote, once you'd start making mistakes, they become a habit, very hard to get rid of.

First, learn how to pronounce "ą" and "ę" correctly, just like for example Polish people are learning how to pronounce "ð" sound as in "the":) Don't worry too much because Polish people themselves are often simplyfying/cutting the sound of "ą" and "ę", but again: you don't want to learn a dialect or "street language" as the basics.

As I wrote here before, you have to be careful - "ą" and "ę" are rather soft and not too long (e.g. shouldn't resemble French too much) - overexpressing them resulted in calling "ą-ę" (or "ę-ą") a person who is overly snobby/pretentious;) "On/ona jest taka ą-ę" = He/she is so snobbish, unnatural, I cant stand him/her.

Girl in this short video has rather a correct pronunciation and tells about the basic kinds of numerals in Polish:

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]

How about:

BYĆ W STANIE - to be able to / being capable of - when telling about the general (either physical or mental) capability of doing something

Jestem w stanie Ci pomóc. - I can help you. / I am able to help you = I have the right resources/ideas or I am in the right state of mind to help you.

MÓC - can / could / may - usually when telling about your own will/wish/mood to do something
Mogę Ci pomóc. - I can help you. = I'm willing to help you (I might not know how yet).

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]

Because most of people are sloppy. Some people tend to overexpress the sound of "ę"/"ą" which is an annoying hyper-correctness as well.

It's rare to hear English or any other language pronounced clearly in colloquial speech.

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]

Indeed, I'm sorry, it softens after the consonants: p, t, k, ch (correct me if I missed something please).
Theoretically, "rz" after them should be only softened (a sound between "rz" and "sz") but it's hard to pronounce correctly even to most of the Polish people, so saying "sz" in such cases is normal. If you'll ever have the occasion to watch old Polish movies - listen closely, they are sometimes saying the "hard sz"/"soft rz" sound in such cases:) Nowadays I heard such pronounciation among some of e.g. college professors, but in general it's considered as hyper-correctness of phonetics = not well-perceived usually.

Language / "My heart has no nation." - How would I say/spell this in Polish? [13]


Literal translation is the definition of google translate;)
"Moje serce nie ma narodowości, moja dusza nie zna granic" - that sounds very good to me and keeps the original meaning.

Language / Is there a traditional expression used as a welcome? [18]

No. It actually became very simplified over time. It used to have for example even one more grammatical case (called ablatyw) that merged with dopełniacz (genitive).

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]


A clearly defined list of all the exceptions should be created (or maybe it exist somewhere already?), it would be so much of a help, just like the list of english irregular verbs for example.

I found texts in English in the meantime: epubs.surrey.ac.uk/2224/1/The_Number_of_Genders_in_Polish.pdf (there's a useful graph showing types of the grammar "genders" in Polish) and en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Polish/More_on_nouns_-_genders

Language / Is there a traditional expression used as a welcome? [18]

As Paulina explained, it's always "Gość w dom, Bóg w dom" (not domu*) and it's only an old-Polish proverb.
There are plenty of traditional forms of greeting/naming guests or the hosts (e.g. the form "mości gospodarzu" as a polite form to refer to the host). In some situations people were even expected to make religious or poetical references, sometimes people were using short rhymed sentences like "Uszanowanie, witam i o zdrowie pytam!" in a semi-humorous way. "Moje uszanowanie" was a courteous way of saying "I'm honored [to meet you]". Religious people were usually greeting each other with "Niech będzie pochwalony" or "Szczęść Boże".