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Perfective vs Imperfective - grammar [150]
Then again myć just means 'to wash', while pomyć is to 'wash up'.
Można pomyć naczynia zdecydowanie - You can definitely pomyć the dishes
pomyć
umyć, oczyścić z brudu wiele rzeczy, osób lub zwierząt (to wash, clean from dirt many objects, people or animals)
To me and my friends word "pomyć" doesnt look proper.
Pomyję trochę naczyń, a potem obejrzę film. (I'll wash some dishes and then I'll watch a film.)
it's all quite amusing because without fail Poles never seem to agree on their language!
I think there may be some confusion about 'pomyć' because of the dual nature of the po- prefix in Polish.
If you won't mind, I may try to explain a little bit.
The 'po-' prefix can be used in two different contexts:
1. It may indicate that given action is done on many separate objects (is repetitive) e.g.:
On pozbierał zabawki - he gathered (many separate) toys
posprzątałem w domu - I cleaned up (all the places in) my house
powybijali nam szyby w oknach - they broke (all of) our windows
2. It may indicate that given action was (or will be) being done for some (usually short) time, then stopped (is temporary) e.g.
on postał tu przez chwilę, potem zniknął - he was standing here for some time, then disappeared
pośpiewajmy razem trochę - let's sing together for a while
pomieszkałem tam miesiąc i się wyprowadziłem - I lived there for a month, then moved away
In both meanings the po- prefix indicates perfective aspect of verb, but in 1. it makes the action repetitive, while in 2. it highlights its temporary character.
So the question is now, how to tell one from the other?
There may be a few signs which meaning is intended, but the most distinctive is that in 2. we usually also use some measure of time (chwilę, trochę, miesiąc in the examples above).
The other important thing to know is that meaning 1. better suits some verbs, while 2. better suits other verbs and for some verbs both uses of the prefix are ok.
Now, coming back to 'pomyć' (in the context of washing dishes), I think that while it may not sound well in meaning 1. (repetitive) it's quite ok in meaning 2. (short, temporary, unfinished action). On the other hand, for meaning 1. the word 'pozmywać' is much better.
So we may rephrase the sentence 'Pomyję trochę naczyń, a potem obejrzę film.' a little bit to make it more visible:
Pozmywam naczynia, a potem obejrzę film = I'll wash (all) the dishes, then I'll watch the movie
Pomyję trochę (chwilę) naczynia, a potem obejrzę film = I'll be washing the dishes for a while (no matter if I'll finish it), then I'll watch the movie
I hope it makes things a little more clear now.
Cinek
