Language / Verb Aspect: Dawać vs Dać [17]

again, what i am trying to convey to JosephK is that you can't use "bede + infinitive" or "bede + past imperfect" as a crutch. it will ruin your polish.

think about it, it's the easiest thing to do for an English speaker. "I will + verb". It's easier because there's less to learn and it "sounds" and "feels" like English (I'm assuming the OP is a native English speaker) so once again, i can't stress enough that you need to learn how to conjugate verbs in all their forms and not just memorize 500 infinitives and think, "bede and then I'll just throw the verb at the end and i'm all set!"

i'm starting to get repetitive but i think you get what i'm saying.

Language / Verb Aspect: Dawać vs Dać [17]


no. what i am saying is you should say "zrozumiem", etc.

poles will say "oh yeah it's fine" but you need to break the habit. there are certain "bede + imperfect past tense form" that are at times the preferred version or let's say they are used often, but you gotta learn the "true" forms to learn polish properly.

if you don't take this advice i can promise you that you will start to hear forms of verbs that you will not recognize and it will kill your comprehension.

Language / Verb Aspect: Dawać vs Dać [17]


the point i was making is that he should not use that structure "as a crutch" because he'll never learn proper forms, he'll just keep using the infinitive which is a road to failure.

Language / Verb Aspect: Dawać vs Dać [17]

most verbs in Polish have 2 forms, perfective and imperfective.

Main uses you should learn at this time:

The perfective form is going to be simple future and simple past.

Imperfective will usually be your present simple and progressive past forms (and sometimes a kinda sorta version of present perfect).

brac/wziac

biore - I take
bralem - I was taking

wezme - I'll take
wzialem - I took

you can't use a perfective past form with "byc" when constructing future tense. i.e., you can't say "bede dal" or "bede wzial", you would simply use the conjugated perfective form "dam" or "wezme". it's a btch, but it's Polish.

learn the perfective/imperfective forms and fight with all your inner strength to not say things like "bede isc" or "bede pojechac" or something. you will never learn proper Polish if you keep using it as a crutch. Don't speak Polish like the Chinese guy at your local 'Yummy Taste' speaks English.

take notes all day long on verbs you need every day, look up both perfective and imperfective forms, and absolutely hammer conjugation exercises till you can roll with them. it's the only road to good Polish.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1303]


And throwing salt over your shoulder protects you from bad luck.

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]


you are a broken record.

Personal attacks, of course. Par for the course. It's the same thing over and over with you, man. I post something, express an opinion, and you tell me that the reason I'm wrong is because I was poor in Poland. It's completely ridiculous. You know what, even if it was true, you still wouldn't have a point.

Come up with something new, man. It's friggin' old.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


Nope. It's a brain naturally processing information proceeded by logical action. Never taking someone's word for it, that's stubborness, fear, untrustworthyness, survival instinct, or some combination of those things.

Crows are very weary and careful birds, always on the lookout and they spook very easily and they act that way to protect themselves from predators. And every single one is the exact same way.

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]


i actually really like this post and I think it has a lot of truth to it.

I will always have 2 strikes against me as an American on this forum because people have preconceived notions about us, it's just the way it is, but because i grew up in a country that in most cases is eons ahead of Poland, i simply see stuff that a Pole couldn't even imagine and therefore, form opinions accordingly. i've always said that poles live very isolated lives and this is a big reason why. going from poland to my country is like leaving and going to another planet which is why i see things way way way differently than the average pole.

SO MANY TIMES i get criticized for being the typical arrogant douche american but a lot of that is probably due to the fact that i am simply not afraid to call a spade a spade on here and people get their a$$ hurt over things they KNOW is true about Poland but refuse to admit. I could moan and groan about the USA just as well but hey, this isn't a USA forum and the USA is already brought up enough as it is (i'm bringing her up now based on Ziemowit's post).

if that makes me a douche, so be it, but i think Ziemowit's post hits on some things that would definitely clue someone in on "what's wrong with Poland" because it may not be "wrong" to poles in some cases but completely wrong for foreigners to the country and because we're talking about poland, a country that quite frankly leaves much to be desired, foreigners finding things wrong with poland, especially westerners, is sure to come up and come up often.

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]


oh oh, ok. so that changes everything. i'm fine with immigrants, as long as i don't see them or have to deal with them.

see guys, i'm not really concerned with how it affects Poland, i'm only concerned with whether or not it's in MY town. logically, one would then deduce that immigrants is "what's wrong with Poland" because yours truly has some in my neighborhood and I don't like it. and by golly, everyone should be concerned for my well being.

you have amazingly selfish agendas. let's give this man a warm round of applause!

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]


you gotta be kidding me. the last I checked, Poland was about as white as it gets. 98% Polish and 99.9% white. What the hell are you talking about. Surely that can't be what ails Poland the most.

USA, Canada / Living in Poland - prospects for Alabama guy ... need some advice! [146]

If you don't want to go to a dump like Arkansas......don't go to Arkansas.

Excluding Alabama, that leaves 48 more.


i don't really know how this has anything to do with your decision of where to move. if you had enough money saved to live in California for a year without having to work, would you go there? you don't seem to be moving because your family doesn't have enough time to play Scrabble.

you gotta stop looking at poland like a big long vacation, especially because no matter how much your wife wants to stay in the USA, if you bring her back to her country and her family for a year or two, you just might get stuck there.

it is YOU who is taking all the risk here. stay in the USA, you keep your language, you keep your familiarity, you can still handle business on your own and for your wife, AND your wife wants to be in the USA anyhow. go to Poland, you lose your language, you will be utterly dependent on your wife to do completely basic things every single day and you gotta find a job you don't hate and because you won't teach English, options are limited without being able to speak any Polish.

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]

I feel as though I'm more "free" where I live now, but it's entirely subjective. Conversely, when I went to Poland and saw naked women on magazine covers at Empik, I was totally shocked because that simply doesn't fly in the USA in a big public bookstore like that. It doesn't make one more "free" than the other, it just is.

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


back to that again?! duuuuuude......

next time I disagree with you, do your very best to lay off the same ole' personal attack you insist on bringing up EVERY SINGLE TIME.

holy crap, just more evidence as to how boring you must be at social gatherings.

"did you know that the number of doctors going to the UK for work has declined 34% over the last 3 years? yeah, yeah, and Finland has seen a 17% increase in pumpkin production as well.....probably due to the new farming regulations the state has imposed upon them but that's ok because they've seen a steady influx of migrant workers there over the past 6 years, up 14% from last year....."

you must have to read this crap for a living, it's just far too boring to read up on for pleasure.

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


nope. i'm pretty sure you just read a lot of boring crap.

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]

this argument keeps coming up on here and I think it really comes down to what you view as "freedom".

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]


I've called you out on several occasions on this forum for swooping in and making Poland vs. The West comparisons....when it has nothing at all to do with the topic. It is the ONLY thing you have posted since you started here. And you call me a troll.


Maybe calling me "kid" makes you feel older and more mature than you actually are but I can assure you you're barking up the wrong tree. I'm probably older than you are. Dear lord I hope I am, I can't imagine someone as naive as you being younger than me.

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


seriously dude, I could swear you spend more time reading rules and regs of the EU and other bureaucratic crap about Poland than anything else....you must be incredibly exciting at parties.

"and do you know what minimum wage is in Sweden according to the ABCXYC Bureau of Statistics as of the second half of 2010? yeah, yeah guys, it's 13% more than in Norway, but their retirement program is such that....."

lordy lord.....

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]


dude, cut the crap. you bring up what is probably the nicest city in Poland and then mention the USA's $hittiest. go ahead, make another ridiculous comparison to try and carry out your agenda. this isn't your first thread where you prop up Poland as much as you can and then crap on the USA in the next breath. give it a rest, you sound fecking ridiculous. you're just another guy who came to visit for a few days, saw lots of nice poon, and decided to find a polish forum to talk about it.


Captain Obvious to the rescue! Hey boys and girls, you know why that's true? Because the United States of America is the largest melting pot in the world and Poland is......hooooooomogenous!!!


OH NO, what ever would have given us that impression. Haha, 10 days in Poland and you've already written off the USA as an inferior country. I had the goggles on a bit when I first moved to Poland but you my friend take the cake, and then the whole bakery. Get the fukc outta here, dude.

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


countless doctors/dentists go to the UK for work, they travel back and forth all year while maintaining small private practices in Poland. they make $hit loads more in the UK, regardless of what airfare costs getting there and back. FACT.


yes.


of course it does. how can it just be the dumb ones going there.....if you were educated and were worth 10 times more elsewhere, the smart thing to do would be to go there and make that money. and yes, improve your english as well. +2

It's funny but it's just like life in the USA. Granted people are moving around within the same country, but people that grow up in Nebraska and become doctors, lawyers, dentists......don't stay in Nebraska. They go to where the money is which means the big cities which are often times thousands of miles away, regardless of where mommy and daddy live or where they grew up. It's the logical thing to do. With more and more educated Poles these days that also speak English, you'd be a fool to not pursue a life elsewhere if it meant you earning far more and gaining a huge improvement in lifestyle.

I'm so sick of having this utterly simple, blatantly obvious conversation. do dupy.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


it is the question, and title, of the thread. it's not about whether individualism is good or bad in Poland, it was asking if they are individualistic.....or not.


I still can't agree with this. Communism, as hard core as it can be at times, is still not North Korea. I mean.....have you seen any documentaries on the place? Footage of how they live? It's siiiiiiick.

North Korea still considers Kim Jong Il's dead father as the ruler of the country which is a perfect opportunity to literally do whatever they want with their people because any decision those in power decide to make can be accredited to a dead person's wishes, and who could argue with the supreme being? Starting to sound dangerously religious, isn't it. I'm not the first person to make that suggestion about North Korea, but i digress.


again, why are you talking about, and comparing Poland to, the West. totally off topic again, dude.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


again, totally off topic.


Off topic but.....Poland IS a socialist country and North Korea.....are you kidding? Try totalitarian.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


I just don't see how one would think that. How can a society be individuals with no diversity? It seems quite counter-intuitive.


but it's not if so many people are arguing the same point, or even just arguing just to argue. there's no genuine uniqueness to just "disagreeing".


Just saying, "I don't like it when people tell me what to do," very often is completely disconnected to being an individual. Most of the time, it's just a natural reaction to suppression. It's human nature to not want facism but those that feel that way are not suddenly individuals because they think so.

Let's look at say North Korea. A completely controlled society, totalitarian, and surely there are plenty of people that hate living there for that reason. Does that make them individuals?

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]

I still think you're mixing individuality with stubborness or refusal to conform.

If lots of people, let's use your example of Polish farmers, all refuse to conform to a new set of laws or standards because they like "the old way" better, it doesn't have any relation to being "invidividualistic". It's simply a refusal to change, nothing more. Now, if farmers decided that they wanted to do it in some new, unique way, they'd be on to something.

I think you'll need to provide me with some new examples of individualism in Poland if we're going to get on the same page.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]

I don't really think I understand what you're saying here.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


I'd describe that as old fashioned and stubborn....or like you said, "pig headed", not so much "individualistic".

I guess we are using different defnitions here because to me, for someone to be an individual, they must be unique, have independent thoughts and ideas, and it must be easy to pick them out of a lineup, not just someone who "fights the power". Anybody can be stubborn and fight the power, especially because you don't even have to be right.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


I still wonder where this idea of Poles being individualistic comes from.

I felt as though Poland was a land of "the same". People watch one sport, eat the same food, TV is always a spinoff or complete ripoff of another show, I can't think of anything "Polish" that spreads throughout the world today that people clearly identify as "Polish" that can be accredited to this Pole's inviduality/ingenuity/artistic ability, the entire country is white and almost entirely Polish, most of the architecture is the same boring run down looking thing....I just don't see it.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


case and friggin' point.

keep this in mind the next time you read an article or hear from a friend who has a friend who has a friend that was harrassed at an american airport.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]

you gotta be kidding me. if you're going to compare the rights of Americans today vs. the rights of Poland today or any other time in history, you gotta come up with something better than that.

i've flown several times since the whole TSA step up, and i get nothing more than the usual metal detector, not even a pat down.

no country today has more air traffic than the USA and 11 years ago we had planes fly into very important buildings....so yes, at times airport security here is going to be extra cautious and because it's America, everybody is going to stomp their feet about it and blow it out of proportion.

but the shoe thing is still really annoying. that's literally the only difference i notice at the airports now.

So much of the airport security complaints come from people that can't follow simple instructions. I can remember about 4 years ago, flew home from Poland to Newark airport to visit my family, and while sitting at baggage claim waiting for my stuff, a police officer was berrating a guy, clearly not from the USA, because he simply refused to do what he was told. He was instructed to not walk somewhere, not cross a line on the ground, he'd do it anyway, and i even remember him trying to walk away at some point which obviously really pissed off the cop. He then pretended he couldn't speak English and that's why he didn't follow orders. When the cop pulled out his ticket book and mentioned the cost of the fine, lo and behold the guy spontaneously learned how to speak English and began trying to explain himself. I will also mention that he was with another guy who kept barking at the cop as he was trying to address his friend, and I'm sure if you asked either of them what their side of the story is, it would be that airport security is completely unreasonable and paranoid and that the USA is this and that.

Try going to Israel, they make US airport security look like a day at the spa.

Life / The Polish Wedding - What is it Like in Poland? [338]

trains. polish weddings constantly have people lined up in a train, walking in circles.

Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]


Not by much.


Regardless, it's the international language, and for any foreigner visiting Poland, not being able to use English is a downer.