How to say 'mean' in Polish?

hello again
how do i say.
'i mean'. 'you mean', they mean'
i have the word znaczyć, and oznacz. can i say znaczałem. are these sentenses correct.

do you mean to say. czy cię oznacza do mów
did he mean to say. zrobiła ona oznacza do mów
I mean to say. ja oznacza do mów
what he meant to say was. co on oznacza do mów był

chaza

or a more universal phrase: chodzi o to, że...

hi strzyg
am i not correct in sayiny, in your sentense you have said 'do you want to tell'. what then is the meaning of the word 'znaczyć or oznacz.

chaza

you're correct, this is just a more natural way of expressing "I mean, you mean..." etc. in Polish. Alternatively, you may use "znaczyć" - czy to znaczy, że... (literally: does it mean that...)

But don't conjugate "znaczyć" - ja znaczę, ty znaczysz, on znaczy - the meaning is then completely different.

so i can only use znaczyć, using znaczałem for example is not allowed. what does oznacza mean. if i wanted to say, i mean , you mean, iwould have to use ja znaczyć, ty znaczyć. is that correct.

also when i use the word czy i understand that to mean do ,does, did, along with other words of course.

chaza

no.

There are few expression for I mean:
Mam na myśli...
Chcę (przez to) powiedzieć, że...
Chodzi mi o...

- Have you taken the keys to the garage?
- Do you mean those keys?
- No I mean those which were in the drawer

- Brałeś klucze od garażu?
- Masz na myśli te klucze?
- Nie, chodzi mi o te, które były w szufladzie

- John has sold us...
- What do you mean?
- He has called the cops, they'll be here any minute!

- John nas sprzedał...
- Co chcesz przez to powiedzieć?
- Zawiadomił gliny, już tu jadą!

Znaczyć is only in context of explaination. Only an object can znaczyć something not a person.

- What does it suppose to mean?!
- Oh, it was just a little prank

- Co to ma znaczyć?
- To miał być tylko taki żarcik

- What does the word 'obnoxious' mean?
- Co oznacza słowo "obnoxious"?

- Could you explain me the meaning of the natural selection in the evolution process?
- Czy mógłbyś mi wytłumaczyć znaczenie doboru naturalnego w procesie ewolucji?

If you say On znaczył it would mean something competetly different!
On znaczył bydło, wypalając im znaki na ciele - He was labelling the cattle by burning them the signs on the skin
Oznaczyłem teren - I've marked the area

This is difficult to translate word by word.

The most natural way to express it in Polish is with 3rd person singular of chodzić.

O to właśnie chodzi! (That's exactly what i mean/that's precisely the point)
Nie chodzi o to! (That's not what i mean/that's not the point)

right.


oznacza is similar in meaning to znaczy, but it can also mean "to mark" - oznaczać trasę = to mark up the route


no personal pronouns here. To znaczy (it means). It's a fixed phrase, don't treat is as a verb in this context.


"Czy" is put at the beginning of a question which can be answered by yes/no. Therefore it replaces the English operators: do, does, did, will, have etc.

well helpful
that has thrown me completely. i see that an object can only be znaczyć, you are using the meaning of saying' what do you WANT to tell me'.

when i have asked my polish cousin, 'co do znaczy słowo' = what does the word mean' i was wrong then?
surely there must be a word that says 'i mean' not 'i want'.
i understand if i wanted to say ' i want' i wold use the word chcę, but not if i wanted to say 'mean'. or have i got polish completely wrong.

chaza

szwed i am more confused now, upto now, i have learnt that chodzić is to walk or do s/th on foot, to say,' that is exactly what i mean' i would have said 'to jest właśnie co ja znaczyć'.

i know my polish is still in development, i would not have used chodzić.

chaza

this was correct (without do - co znaczy słowo...)
notice that "słowo" is not a person.

You've been given examples of correct expressios, just try to memorize them.

can you expand on szwed, and helpful's point

It's correct.

But chodzić has 2 different meanings. But in this situation we don't decline it. It's used only in 3rd person singular. As I said before, it's difficult to translate word by word. So this expression is better to learn by heart.

But you are right, the MAIN meaning is "to go by foot".

so going back to my first post. in general for me to say 'mean' are the following correct that the average pole would understand.

do you mean to say. czy cię znaczyć do mów
did he mean to say. zrobiła on znaczyć do mów
I mean to say. ja znaczyć do mów
what he meant to say was. co on znaczyć do mów był

chaza

No.

strzga
what have you undertsood them to say.

chaza

Absolutely nothing. I couldn't even remotely guess the meaning. Sorry. They're just strings of unconnected words.

On second thought, "znaczyć do mów" in speech could be understood as "znaczyć domów" - slightly incorrect for "to mark up houses".

Chaza. Don't fight the way the language works. Just try to accept it.

believe me strzyga, fighting it is not my intention, i am trying exteremly hard to try to understand how it works, but i seem to take one step forwrd and two steps back. before i can accept it, i have to undertsand it.

it makes me very disapointed that you never understood any of it.

chaza

Just try to reverse the order. You need to accumulate some material first and then you'll start to understand how it works. Your approach could work for learning English - which at the beginner level is more like a set of Lego blocks - but it's not good for Polish.

If you don't understand the way something works, just try to memorize it. It'll come into place later.

Maybe start with grammar book?


No you don't have to. It's wrong attutude in learning languages. Believe me that for Polish speakers there is many nonsense in English too. You have to just learn that:

- There are idioms which you have to learn by heart
- English grammar is not similar to Polish grammar
- Every word have several meanings and if you look an English word in an English dictionary (e.g. thefreedictionary. com)you will see how many meaning can have one word. Some meaning corresponds with Polish counterparts some don't so you have to use different word then. A simple example would be word "przepraszać". In English there are two words which means "przepraszać" - "to sorry" and "to excuse". But if you look for the word "to excuse" in Pol-En dictionary you will see that this verb have more meanings than "przepraszać". Depending on context it can also mean: "usprawiedliwiać", "tłumaczyć", "wybaczać"... and you should just accept it.

Not completely, should be 'co to słowo znaczy'


Of course there is a word in Polish for 'mean' but it all depends on the context, which one to use.

mean - (of words, signify) znaczyć, oznaczać,
mean- (intend) zamierzać, mieć zamiar
mean - (of person, intent to convey) mieć na mysli, dobre chęci
mean (meant) - (design, destiny) przeznaczać

His parents meant him to be a lawyer - Rodzice przeznaczyli go na prawnika
We were meant for each other - Byliśmy sobie przeznaczeni
He means what he says - On mówi poważnie.
What do you mean? Co masz na myśli?
What does this mean? Co to znaczy? or Co to oznacza?
I mean - mam na myśli
They mean well - (Oni) Mają dobre chęci

chaza, what are you using to study Polish? Maybe you should get more courses or textbooks. For example Pimsleur Polish, with all its drawbacks, tries to teach in an easy and "intuitive" way (but get it only if you find it for free and have enough time).

Besides, what is your native language, English? I'm under the impression they teach much less grammar in school in English speaking countries than elsewhere. In that case, I'd suggest to find an easy introduction to grammar - not Polish grammar, just grammar in general or English grammar. I know many people demonize learning with grammar, but it's nothing evil and it can help you understand how a language works, even without learning all those rules and declinations by heart.

i know my journey is going to be a long one, onward and upward, thank you all, till the next time. i'm sure there will be one.

thanks again

chaza