Polish/Ukrainian words similarities

hadn't notice that gem but now that I have, I'm bit at a loss as to how one gets as thick as you...

Defenitely comparison of Polish to Slovak is very worthwile because the last one belongs to one of the few World languages.
As I know in Slovakia lives 3.5 millions of ethnical Slovaks, the rest are Gipsies,Hungarians and others...
But still...

English - Polish - Slovak - Russian

Island - Wyspa - Ostrov - Ostrov
Cloud - Chmura - Oblak - Oblako
Hand - Ręka - Ruka - Ruka
Sound - Dźwięk - Zvuk - Zvuk
Many - Wiele - Mnoho - Mnogo
Door - Drzwi - Dvere - Dver'
Jaw - Szczęka - èeľus» - èeľus»
Cheese - Ser - Syr - Syr
Speech - Przemówienie - Reè - Reè
Circle - Krąg - Kruh - Krug
All - Wszyscy - Celý - Vse
Against - Przeciwko - Proti - Protiv
Pipe - Rura - Rúrka - Truba
Flour - Mąka - Múka - Muka
Father - Ojciec - Otec - Otec
Light - światło - svetlo - svet
Do - zrobić - robi» - delat'
Book - książka - kniha - kniga
Wave - Fala - Vlna - Volna
Bear - niedźwiedź - medveï - medveï
Level - poziom - úroveň - uroveň
West - zachód - západ - zapad
North - północ - sever - sever
South - południe - juh - jug
Month - miesiąc - mesiac - miesiac
Moon - księżyc - mesiac - miesiac
Tommorow - Jutro - Zajtra - Zavtra
Yesterday - wczoraj - vèera - vèera (wcziera)
Burn - Palić - Horie» - Gorie»
Rat - Szczur - Krysa - Krysa
Thunder - Grzmot - Hrom - Grom
Buy - Kupować - Kúpi» - Kupi»
Seeds - Posiew - Semená - Semena
Wall - ściana - múr - stena
Miracle - cud - zázrak - czudo
Grass snake - Zaskroniec - Užovka - Už
Sour - Kwaśny - Kyslý - Kislyj
Greeting - Powitanie - Pozdrav - Pozdravlenie
Wing - Skrzydło - Kridlo - Krylo
Pour - Wlać - Lia» - Li»
Proud - Dumny - Hrdý - Gordyj
Rude - Niegrzeczny - Hrubý - Grubyj
Shallow - Płytki - Plytký - Melkij
Growth - Wzrost - Rast - Rost
Carry - Nieść - Nies» - Niesti
Row - Rząd - Riadok - Riad
Breathe - Oddychać - Dýcha» - Dysza»
Place - Miejsce - Miesto - Miesto
Sell - Sprzedać - Predáva» - Prodava»
Hole - Dziura - Diera - Dyra
Volume - Tom - Objem - Objom
Space - Przestrzeń - Priestor - Prostranstvo
Worm - robak - èerv - èerv'
Bite - Gyźć - uhryznú» - ukusi»
Cut - pokroić - zníži» - rezat'
Transition - przejście - prechod - perechod
Blunt - tępy - tupý - tupoj
Hold - utrzymać - drža» - derža»
Scroll - zwój - zvitok - svitok
Chisel - dłuta - dláto - dolato
Brag - przechwalać - chvasta» sa - chvasta»sia
Skin - skóra - kože - koža

The level of mutual intelligibility between two languages depends on the similarities in their syntax and pronunciation as well as the vocabulary. Taking all the factors into consideration strangely enough seems to produce more plausible conclusions, coming dangerously close to reality, so watch out...

As it turns out, in Poland, Slovak is considered the closest language to Polish (obviously Slovak and Polish are not as close to each other as Czech and Slovak

but that's a different issue). On a side note there are roughly 6900 distinct languages in the modern world - that's not few.

What would you call them then? Turanians? In how much then have you been influenced by this "Turanian theory" by Mr. Duchinsky? Of course, he had followers in Russia, as Mr, Vernadsky und Ko., saying that Russia is a successor state of the Golden Horde. But I believe that Karlo Marx was right strongly denying it.

Well,but this is well known that government of USSR and especially early USSR was trully multinational.
(I do not claim this fact is bad by itself).But according to wikipedia Felix Dzerzhinsky was ethnical Pole.
Other examples are countless.I guess you do not need my help to figure out it.

It is a little bit complicated with Ukrainian. E.g., now I speak the Ukrainian that is actually not my native language (or strictly speaking, not "my native Ukrainian"). As a child I spoke, like all people around, literary Halychyna Ukrainian, HU, (the language of I. Franko, Osyp Makovey, Mykhaylo Pavlyk etc.), but when I started to go to school, it was the period when the standard Ukrainian language (SUL) based on the Poltava dialect was introduced, which for us (especially schoolchildren) was a sort of another language (both grammatically and lexically).

Here are only some points as an example:
a) we used Present Perfect structures along with the Past Indefinite saying e.g. "Ya mayu to vzhe zrobleno/napysano, prochytano" along with "Ya to vzhe prochytav/napysav/prochytav" etc. meaning "I have already done that" and "I did this". Nowadays you can hardly hear Present Perfect structures - they may not be even understood by the new generation.

b) the reflective particle "self", "sya", was a separate word and it was moveable in a sentence, so you could say: "Ya vzhe sya vmyv" or "Ya vzhe vmyv sya" (I have already washed myself) etc., which is not the case in SUL.

c) hundreds of words have been replaced in all areas, here are some from the area "School, Education" (these were the first words we had to change for new ones): "atrament, bibula, lawka, geografiya, radyrka, studiya na universyteti, vyshkil, hodyna" for new ones: "chornylo, promokartka, parta, heohrafiya, rezynka, nawchannya w uniwersyteti, nawchannya, urok".

And for years, we had been using these two our "languages": one at home and with friends and neighbours, and the other one - at school, then at the Institute and work - till the time the HL has almost stopped to be used. Separate words are still used, but with the aim to spice your language, or to show that one is from Halychyna when one meets Halychyna people outside it. But no more.

But paradoxically, people in Poltava, whose language we speak here now, usually do not speak this language, but prefer Russian. So, my "first Ukrainian" you, FlaglessPole, would have understood even better.

Neither vocabulary or sound pronounciation between Polish and Slovak seem extremely close to me.
Polish uses entire set of sounds which are completely absent in Slovak.Many Slovak words are either
different from Polish or even closer to Russian than to Polish.Though I do not disagree that there could
be opposite examples.In general there seem to be small Polish influence on Slovak.Some of those words
in its own turn were borrowed from German.But it is quite easily to make conclusion that Polish and Slovak
were not much originally related than Slovak and Russian.If there is some small influence it almost defenitely
took place in a recent centuries due close contact between Poland and much smaller Slovakia.
Stress in Slovak always falls on the first syllable while in Polish always on the second syllable from the end.
In Russian it is more unpredictable.Reason to divide Nothern Slavic languages into Western and Eastern branches
according to wikipedia are based mostly on other reasons than vocabulary and pronounciation:


/wiki/Slavic_languages

But I do not disagree that for an average Pole it could be easier to understand Slovac than either Russian and Ukrainian.It is quite believable to me.

Though for a person who speaks both Russian and Ukrainian it is easier to understand Polish than Slovak.

I'm so suprised and impressed at the same time.

LOL, indeed. So am I!

I meant to be it again.


And here is what surprises me:
An observation:
I have noticed that for native Russian speakers, starting to speak Ukrainian is sooo painful and it take so loooong time before they try, whatever ethnicity they may be: Ukrainians, Jews or Russians. Examples: as back as in 1997 brothers Klychkos (predominantly ethnic Ukrainians) promised in a TV interview to start using U. The first time they spoke U. publicly that I know of was several months ago (15 years later) during the election campaign providing evidence that Ukrainian is really a foreign language for them. Then, Mr. Azarov the Premier (of Jewish ethnicity), can hardly say sth in U. without a written text. I have never heard my neighbour (Russian ethnicity) saying a word in U. after having lived decades in Lviv, although everybody speaks U. to her. And I know of tens of such cases - And in contrast to them, Polish students studying in Lviv, with whom I have had chance to talk, can speak almost impeccable Ukrainian after having stayed in Lviv only for 1 year and even if the language of instruction is English.

How can one explain that?

Polish don't dislike Ukrainian unlike Russians for political reasons? Which means Russians pretend that they can't.

Seems to me like these students are simply respectful to their host country as well as naturally curious, which comes with the territory of being a student abroad.

As for Russians, well, probably a mix of their natural expectation that everyone can speak Russian, as well as their widely held belief that Ukraine is just some slightly confused part of Russia, where people speak funny, which ,really, they shouldn't - best they stop whatever they're doing and just be Russian, coz life is too short not to..? And seeing the official rhetoric coming from Russia as regards Ukraine, one that hasn't really changed since the time immemorial, I doubt it will be easy for an average Russian to shake off that deep-seated sense of ownership.

Which Polish towns/villages those studensts are from and why did they choose to study in Ukraine?
Does Poland even recognize Ukrainian diplomas?

The ones south of Baltic sea... Calm down, international student exchange programs have existed for a while now.

KGB mentality never ceases to surprise me! :)

Usually I do not ask Polish students specially, where in Poland they come from, but a great deal comes from the western part of Poland and what they study, as I have learnt, includes Civil Engineering, Mathematics, Sociology, History of Ukraine. What I usually ask them if I meet them (museums, literary events, cafés etc.) is a) if they or their parents/grandparents have any connection to Ukraine (had previously lived here, or have relatives here or are of Ukrainian ethnicity -and their good knowledge of Ukrainian is due to the fact that they maybe speak U. sometimes in the family) and their answer has always been "no" up till now and b) facts about Ukraine, and again surprisingly, they know much.

I simply know nothing about Ukrainian diploma recognition, but one of my friends had been working for years as a high school teacher at the Lublin University, and another is still working in Poland as a soft ware developer for a Polish company. I can only draw a conclusion.

BTW, the majority of foreign students in Lviv are from China, I think. And the majority of tractors I have seen on our fields (Lviv Region) are small-size tractors from China!

Zai Zien!

@ Vlad:

-->Which Polish towns/villages those students are from and why did they choose to study in Ukraine?
Does Poland even recognize Ukrainian diplomas?

Ukrainian diplomas are recognized by Poland and vice versa by governmental agreements. 600 Poles study in Lviv alone. Main reason: money, nice city and people. 6000 Ukrainians study in Poland and their number tripled in the last few years. Quarter of all foreign students in Poland are from Ukraine. Source:

..w.edukacjawpolsce.pl/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=arti cle&sid=604

As to similarities and differences between Russians and Poles, I'd put them this way:

1. Genetically, Poles and especially south Russians are very close, almost identical. North Russians are more Finnic.
2. Linguistically, Polish and Russian languages are very close. If you wrote Russian in Polish alphabet, most Poles would understand it easily (say 80% of it) without prior knowledge of Russian. However, a Pole who never studied Russian would likely not understand spoken Russian easily because of different melody, accents, etc.

3. The biggest differences are cultural (Rome versus Bizantium thing) and political (Polish democracy and distrast of all governmental powers versus Russian permanent experience of absolutist, totalitarian and authoritarian regimes only.

south, north, east and west Poles?


I've seen Russian written with Polish alphabet, didn't understand even 50% of it.

I'm affraid it could be an exagerration.Probably it's closer to 60%.Knowledge of Ukrainian will add you 10-15 more percents.But if you mean basic and older vocabulary then quite possibly.Could someone post here some Polish text of average difficulty which doesnt contain too much German or English words?

We will see how many analogs to Polish words in Russian I will find.

Don't have scientific sources at hand to answer you. But the differences among Poles are not as great as between south and north Russians. Poles are pretty much mixed up. But because of ethnic cleansing one may guess that western Poles (originally from eastern Poland) are the closest to south Russians. North-east Poles are closer to Balts (extinct Old Prussians). North Poles are closer to Scandinavians, Germans, Dutch, Scots. Incidentally, neolithic Swedes were closer to present day Poles than to present day Swedes. Vikings were latecomers to Scandinavia, just as Russians were latecomers to North Russia.

That may prove difficult, everyday Polish contains many words of German origin, simple words like 'dach' (roof) for example.

Ukrainians are slightly closer genetically to Balkan Slavs and Southern Europeans than Poles.
But I do not see a big problem here.Poles are long time trying to convince themself that they admire
with Hungarians or even Italians...

Maybe. Maybe I'm biased because I studied Russian in school. I can no longer speak it, but I can read Russian newspapers without much difficulty. I gave you a link to a text in Polish. Can you read it?

I do not see any link.Could post some text here?

Poles are not close to Italians, but are close to Hungarians and even Austrians. This is because Hungarians and Austrians are to a large degree magyarized and germanized Slavs.

There is some genetic features which are practically absent in Poles but shared by many other Europeans including Ukrainians,Hungarians, Austrians and Italians.But I do not think anyone with exception of specialists could be interested in it.

The link stopped working. Sorry. How about Pan Tadeusz by Mickiewicz, the best known book in Polish:

Litwo! Ojczyzno moja! ty jesteś jak zdrowie.
Ile cię trzeba cenić, ten tylko się dowie,
Kto cię stracił. Dziś piękność twą w całej ozdobie
Widzę i opisuję, bo tęsknię po tobie.

Литва! О родина! Ты — как здоровье. Тот
Тебя воистину оценит и поймет,
Кто потерял тебя. Теперь живописую
Тебя во всей красе, затем, что я тоскую.

Isn't it more than 60% similar. 70%?

Maybe somwhere 70%.But to read versa and modern newspapers in Polish knowing only Russian is not very easy, of course,
Knowledge of at least Ukrainian is very helpfull.There is of course some difference between basic and older vocabulary and
modern or poetic expressions which inlude many strange case endings and tricky expressions.

I agree. Genetic research is useful in explaining migrations in prehistory. Today, genetic closeness of nations is meaningless. There are no pure races or ethnic groups in Europe or Americas. To whom are Americans genetically close? As a nation of immigrants - to everyone.

This is your opinion, but currently many Polish mass media including movies are trying to represent Russians
and Ukrainians as racially alien and inferior creatures.Many Poles believe that Poles belong to Germanic group
of people.This is what some of them claim on forums.You could believe that racial or ethical genetic differences
have no sense but it works only when everyone believes in the same.Personally I would be glad to see improving
relations between Poles and Ukrainians and step by step integration of Ukraine into EU as well as development
of democracy and human rights in this country.Even though I live outside of Ukraine.But Eastern European countries
should concentrate on helping each other to develop democracy instead scarry each other with some perverted racist
mind attacks and hate escalation.