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Posts by kgoess  

Joined: 11 Mar 2011 / Male ♂
Last Post: 6 Jan 2013
Threads: 8
Posts: 11

Speaks Polish?: just beginning

Displayed posts: 19
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kgoess   
6 Jan 2013
Language / zraniłem się w + Polish accusative? [8]

Rosetta Stone is telling me to use "zraniłem się w" followed by a noun in the accusative/biernik. Is that right? Not the locative/miejscownik?

For instance, "Ona zraniła się w rękę." She hurt herself on the arm.

Wiktionary doesn't mention that:

w (with locative)
1. in
w (with accusative)
1, on (time/date)

That's correct? It's accusative and not "ręce"?
kgoess   
10 Sep 2012
Language / zostać: to remain *and* to become? [3]

The fact that "zostawać/zostać" can mean both "to remain" and "to become" is giving me cognitive dissonance. Can anybody give some insight into the mental model Poles use when they use these words? And how they avoid ambiguity?

So if I say "Zostanę dobry w języku polskim" would that communicate that I am remaining good at Polish, or that I am becoming good at Polish?
kgoess   
23 Aug 2011
Life / Where are the second-hand stores in Krakow? [14]

So where are the second-hand stores here (Krakow)? The Goodwills, the Salvation Armys? We just moved here, hoping to stay here for a year. We've got an apartment, but could use things like some furniture, blankets, cookware, maybe a used TV. In the states I could fit out our apartment in half an hour by walking down to the nearest Goodwil store, but I'm not seeing anything like that here, haven't seen any garage sales either. Where do the Poles get rid of their used stuff?
kgoess   
26 May 2011
Language / Polish past tense and masculine personal [4]

Fascinating, yes, that makes sense about vocative, I learned something unexpected! Thanks for checking my examples, I feel a little more confident that I understand what's going on now.
kgoess   
25 May 2011
Language / Polish past tense and masculine personal [4]

Can someone tell me if I've got this right? I'm learning this out of Swan's Grammar of Contemporary Polish. In the plural, everything gets the feminine ending unless it's specifically masculine personal, right?

Singular:
gender 'm':
gender 'm-animate':
gender 'm-personal':
Miałem kwiat. (Jestem mężczyzna)
Bob, miałeś kwiat.
Koń, miałeś kwiat.
Stoł miał kwiat.
Koń miał kwiat.
Bob miał kwiat.

gender 'f':
Miałam kwiat. (Jestem kobieta)
Alice, miałaś kwiat.
Ryba, miałaś kwiat.
Piłka miała kwiat.
Alice miała kwiat.

gender 'n':
Krzesło miało kwiat.

Plural:
gender 'm-personal':
Bob, mieliśmy kwiat. (Jestem mężczyzna czy kobieta)
Alice, mieliśmy kwiat. (Jestem mężczyzna)
Bob i Alice, mieliśmy kwiat.
Bob i Alice, mieliście kwiat.
Bob i Alice mieli kwiat.
Bob i Dave mieli kwiat.

gender 'm':
gender 'm-animate':
Stół i zegar miały kwiat.
Koń i kot miały kwiat.

gender 'f':
Alice, miałyśmy kwiat. (Jestem kobieta).
Alice i Eva, miałyście kwiat.
Alice i Eva miały kwiat.
Piłka i ryba miały kwiat.

gender 'n':
Krzesło i mydło miały kwiat.

(I used mieć as a generic example, but I don't think there's anything special about it here, right?)
kgoess   
17 May 2011
Language / Adjective endings and masculine-personal in the Polish language [22]

Koala

Our explanations aren't exactly compatible.

They're not *in*compatible either, I think I get it, I really think I do. What a great language. I'll take chcieć off my grammar driller for now though, just so I don't drill myself in the wrong thing. Also because I haven't learned genitive/dopełniacz yet ;-)

Thanks for the help!
kgoess   
15 May 2011
Language / Adjective endings and masculine-personal in the Polish language [22]

Koala, you might be right on that chcieć takes the genitive/dopełniacz, but I'm nost sure. Swan's "Grammar of Contemporary Polish" says

VERBS REQUIRING THE GENITIVE
d. Verbs of need, want, desire, demand:
- chcieć want
- ...

On the other hand, the examples I have in Rosetta Stone are inconsistent:

- Czy chcesz tortu? [genitive/dopełniacz]
- Dziewczynka chce czekoladę. [accusative/biernik]
- Czy chciałaby pani herbaty? [genitive/dopełniacz]
- Chciałabym soku pomarańczowego. [genitive/dopełniacz]

Can anybody clarify what's going on there?

That's an interesting wrinkle that some verbs take the genitive instead of the accusative. I'll have to build that into my little quiz program. What fun!
kgoess   
14 May 2011
Language / Adjective endings and masculine-personal in the Polish language [22]

Ok, I've put together a little drill program to help me study this (it's way smarter than I am at this point). It uses a list of fifty nouns, thirty adjectives and a half a dozen verbs to make random sentences in English where you have to figure out the equivalent in Polish. It generates sentences like this:

- Szara ryba je bliskie marchwie.
- Czyta nowe listy.
- Chory mąż chce różowych dziadków.
- Pani bierze niebieskie znaki.
- Mała kobieta bierze szare zwierzęta.
- Pani chce czysty sklep.
- Nowe żony biorą szybkie buty.
- Zimne konie lubią gorące krzesło.
- Polscy ojcowie biorą czystą kapustę.

Unfortunately, my javascript is better than my Polish at this point, and I'm not completely sure I've got the grammar right. I don't suppose anybody would mind kicking the tires on it? I would sure appreciate it.

vitubile.typepad.com/polish-grammar/noun-verb-object.html

(If you hit "new test" and "tell me the answer" it's an easy way to run through a bunch of iterations.)

All the data and logic it uses is right there on the html page if you want to see what I'm doing. Thanks for all the help.
kgoess   
11 May 2011
Language / Adjective endings and masculine-personal in the Polish language [22]

Trying to puzzle out adjective endings, I think I've got the rules figured out but I'm not finding enough examples to be sure. Could somebody tell me if I've got these right?

Inanimate:
1) Widzę czerwony dom.
2) Widzę czerwone domy.

Animate:
3) Widzę czerwonego kota.
4) Widzę czerwone koty.

Personal:
5) Widzę czerwonego ojca.
6) Widzę czerwonych ojca.

(Funny, I was unable to come up with an adjective that would apply well to all three classes of nouns, "czerwonego ojca" is kind of silly.)

Thanks!
kgoess   
1 Apr 2011
Language / Do I have these Polish word cases right? [16]

I hope this question isn't too basic for this forum, but Rosetta isn't much help with grammar so I'm trying to puzzle it out from a book. Could somebody just check that I've got the endings right on these? It's the feminine accusative case, singular and plural.

Duża piłka jest blisko domu.
Kobieta kupuje dużą piłkę.
Duży piłky są blisko domu.
Kobiety kupują duzy piłki.

Dobra czekolada jest czarna.
Kobieta ma czarną czekoladę.
Dobry czekolady są czarny.
Kobiety mają czarny czekolady.

A verification that I'm understanding the book right would be hugely helpful.
kgoess   
29 Mar 2011
Life / cellphone: no data plan on Orange SIM card? [6]

Oooh, yeah, SkypeIn with call forwarding sounds like a great idea, thanks!

But do the local SIM cards come with data? The Orange one apparently does not. No point in getting smart phones if there's no access to the Internet, I think. We might as well just get stupid phones.
kgoess   
29 Mar 2011
Life / cellphone: no data plan on Orange SIM card? [6]

We're looking at moving to Poland for a year and I want to get cellphones for us. It sounds like the best thing to do is buy the phones and the SIM cards in the U.S., but the Orange sim card doesn't have a data plan, nor does it work outside of Poland.

Anybody have any advice on a strategy? Can we buy them in the states and expect stuff to work, or should we try to buy them when we get to Poland? We'd like to be able to use them while travelling around the rest of Europe as well.
kgoess   
12 Mar 2011
Language / Tego/Jego [15]

Merged thread:
jego/swojego?

I could put this on the end of the "Tego/Jego" thread, but maybe a separate topic will be easier for others to find in the future.

Can anyone help me with the why "jego" is used for "his" in some cases, but "swojego" in others?

Chłopiec odwiedza swojego dziadka.
Chłopiec i jego dziadek są w łazience.


Any help is appreciated, thanks!
kgoess   
12 Mar 2011
Language / The difference between lubić and podobać się in Polish? [4]

Leopejo

Wow, I wasn't even close to guessing that. Trippy! Thanks!

And my wife points out it's like the Spanish:

Me gustan los zapatos negros.

which is "They please me, the black shoes." I hadn't noticed that podobają was in the 3rd person plural, so it's talking about the buty, not about me.
kgoess   
12 Mar 2011
Language / The difference between lubić and podobać się in Polish? [4]

Could someone help me out with the difference between lubić and podobać się? (I hope I'm getting that right)

For example:

- Podobają mi się czarne buty.
- Mężczyzna lubi jabłka.

They seem kind of the same to me, not sure where the essential difference lies.

Thanks!
kgoess   
11 Mar 2011
Language / "TO" or "ONO" / "i je je"? [20]

Merged: i je je / to - ono

Hi, we have a question about a rosetta stone sentence:

On ma jajko i je je.

What are the two "je"s there? We figure one is "he eats", but what's the other one? Some form of "it"?

This other thread "Tego/Jego" is really helpful, but while it gives details for "I", "you", "he" and "she", it doesn't give details for "it".

Thanks for the help.