Study / Why is that one must wait one year to repeat B1 Polish language exam! [5]

Because it costs money to prepare an exam and it's not affordable to prepare it just for a single person?

It doesn't mean that they couldn't organize an exam just for you if you pay more - but the language certificate organizations often have such policies that they organize exams periodically and it's nothing weird with this for Polish. When I wanted to get a certificate in English - there were also only some specific dates when it was possible to take the exam.

Language / Text message - what does " K. C. " and "8" mean? [15]

"Kocham Cię" suits this context as well.

Life / Will Poland ever be multicultural like Sweden, Germany or France? [161]

Poland used to be one of the most multicultural countries in Europe. Before the World War 2.

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [238]

No, this similarity shows that both of them are Slavic languages.

Better look at the similarities between Serbian and Croatian. People from those both countries will tell you that they are totally separate languages :)

News / Talks on re-polonising Pekao bank under way [58]

The problem is that almost each modern country has so much debt nowadays. Or even more. Maybe except for those having much natural resources.

It's sick, but what can we do with that? There is no way to be competitive with the others.


I am not much in the topic, but from what I know... What else could a country do, having practically no money, no funds at all (after the hyperinflation), to be able to provide all the basic services and pay the pensions? When you have no money at all and you need some immediately, what do you do then? You sell what you have.

From my point of view, what could be done much better, was to perform the whole privatization with more care and sense. Not in such a way, as it happened, with the buyers often closing the bought factories instead of developing and modernizing them. The government performing the privatization should be more sensible to the real intentions of the buyers.

Study / Is the University of Warsaw good? [26]

The best university in Poland. At least according to all the rankings. In technical fields Warsaw University of Technology can be better, but, anyway, it's supposed to be a very good school.

Law / Not having a car insurance for a little while in Poland [13]


No, this is just a stupid rule to allow the insurance companies make more money.

But yes, it is so, there must be a continuity and you can get a big fine from the Insurance Guaranty Fund (UFG) otherwise. Unless the car is a bus or an old-timer (I am not sure about trucks), they can be de-registered temporarily.

News / Talks on re-polonising Pekao bank under way [58]


Unfortunately it is so indeed. PiS looks behind, not forward.


Poland has always been farming country. Although Polish farming is also not in the best condition. It's based mainly on very small family farms. Polish countryside usually looks so that there is a house with a barn - and a long belt of field behind. Next to it, along the street, a next house - and a next belt of field. And so on. I mean, it's seems to be more natural and ecological - and I very like it, I am not for changing it to big factory-like farms. But it is not really effective from the country point of view.

Travel / First vacation in Poland [15]

It depends on what you expect. Mountains? Sea? Cities? Lakes? Castles?

Life / Health insurance in Poland - your suggestions please [35]

It's the website of the NFZ department in Lublin, not in Cracow, but the rules are the same in the whole country:
nfz-lublin.pl/voluntary_health_insurance

So it seems you need come to Poland first to get the health insurance from NFZ.

Some information is also available here:
nfz-lodz.pl/dlapacjentow/leczenie-za-granica/98-leczenie-w-ue/279-health-care-in-poland

Life / Health insurance in Poland - your suggestions please [35]

I would ask the university. It might be so that you need to buy a commercial health insurance (as if you were travelling to Poland as a tourist) for the time until you get your visa, come to Poland and do everything in NFZ.

But I don't know, I would ask the university.

News / Talks on re-polonising Pekao bank under way [58]


We will see. It's been not enough time to judge it now. In my opinion - there are people who will use these money properly, there are people who will use it for booze and ciggies. It's real world and real world works so. There was already lots of people in Poland living on social benefits only. More social benefits = more money for them. There is also lots of upright people who will, for example, invest these money in the child's education.

The most important consequence should be an increase in the number of births. Then it will turn out to be a real investment in the future of the country. And it will be worth the costs.

About the budget - they have already cut the money for metropolitan areas, for example. So there will be less money for public transport and for the local investments. They are introducing the "supermarket" tax which may destroy small local businesses in favor of big supermarket chains (although PiS said it will be exactly on the contrary).

By the way, what's the point of "repolonizing" a bank in form of overtaking it by the state? It's enough when a single bank in the country belongs to the state. There is PKO BP. And it's enough. More banks in hands of the government just doesn't make any sense.

Instead of "repolonizing" banks by overtaking them by the government, we should think about why the general tendency is that the whole business, once it gets big enough, leaves Poland. Maybe because the taxes here are too high? See that even Polish people quite often decide to open the business, for example, on the British Isles, even if it's actually going to operate in Poland. Because on the British Isles there is much more benefits for small businesses, and the state institutions are much more friendly.

Let's look at the 10 biggest Polish banks...
1. PKO BP - the state bank, and the biggest bank in Poland
2. Pekao SA - one of the banks created by the state in 1989 with the intention of privatizing it, Italian (UniCredit)
3. Bank Zachodni WBK - also one of those banks, was Irish (AIB) to 2010, from 2011 it's Spanish (Santander)
4. mBank - also one of those banks, German (Commerzbank)
5. ING Bank Śląski - also one of those banks, Dutch (ING)
6. Getin Noble Bank - also one of those banks, seems to be in Polish hands in high percent
7. BGŻ BNP Paribas - a predecessor of BGŻ has existed since 1919 as a state bank, focused on agriculture; from 2004 partially Dutch (Rabobank), from 2008 Rabobank had over 50% of shares, in 2014 it sold them to a French bank (also existing on Polish market), so now it's French (BNP Paribas)

8. Bank Millenium - also one of those banks, Portuguese (BCP)
9. Raiffeisen Polbank - Austrian, on Polish market from 1991
10. BGK - another state bank, not a typical commercial bank, as PKO BP, but rather focused on providing support of different type for people, companies and local authorities

Very meaningful are also local cooperative banks, associated in a few groups.

It seems only one of those banks is private and Polish.

To compare, in Germany, one of the banks in the first ten is Italian - and it would be all in terms of the foreign capital. But 4 of those banks belong to the federal states - it's something we don't have in Poland because Poland is not a federation. One is the state commercial bank, equivalent of PKO BP (Deutsche Bank), one is a truly commercial, private bank (Commerzbank), one is an equivalent of our BGK (KfW), one unites the cooperative banks (DZ Bank) Then you have an Italian one (Hypovereinsbank, belonging to UniCredit, like Polish Pekao SA), then four banks of federal states, then the Postbank, belonging fully to Deutsche Bank.

Then: Dutch ING, again a federal state bank, then the Sparkassen, so a group of banks belonging to local authorities (no equivalent in Poland), again a federal state bank, again a support bank - but for agriculture, again one uniting cooperative banks (WGZ Bank), again a federal state bank, then again a support bank (now one of one of the federal states), the next one is also a special kind of bank - and it's the first 19.

So the difference is just that the system of state banks is much more complex.

Life / Health insurance in Poland - your suggestions please [35]

1. Ask the university if you really need to buy a touristic insurance for this period, because it looks a little bit weird
2. Google offers of such insurance which are available in your country, but first of all, google what kind of insurance you actually need for your visa!

(if you haven't got any answer yet, this means, people who have had such a problem before don't look at this forum often)

3. Compare the prices offered by different companies
4. Choose the cheapest offer (unless you have reasons to choose a more expensive one)

Sorry, but these are things you can find in the Internet by yourself. Whatever you buy, deal with, whatever problem you have to solve, this is the basic procedure. This is how the life works.

News / Talks on re-polonising Pekao bank under way [58]


This means that the Polish government really should have the power over savings of the most of the Polish citizens? No. I don't feel that my savings are safe when they are in the hands of the government. Of politicians. When something is managed by politicians, this kind of management rarely works well.

And anyway:


So the politicians anyway can do with them whatever they want.


But they have less choice now than they had before. One bank less to choose from.


Well, if people in a country with free market economy start to protest against too high prices of products or against too low incomes, government can only laugh because the prices are controlled automatically by the market and the government can do nothing with it. In a country with centrally planned economy - it's possible to play with that, the government will start doing it under the pressure of the society - and then we have the results. We can make the price of, let's say, eggs, lower than it was. People will start to eat more eggs because they are cheap. But there will be no more chickens to produce those eggs (or the production may even be forced to go down due to lower incomes). The same number of eggs produced, more eggs consumed. We go out of balance, and we have shortages of eggs in shops.

Although I am not sure how it worked in case of toilet paper, the shortages of which are one of the most popular cases. The "consumption" of toilet paper is, after all, quite constant, regardless of its price. If it goes too high, the toilet paper may become a luxury product, and most of the people will find cheaper alternatives. But by decreasing its price... you won't generate more demand. People won't suddenly start to poop more because the toilet paper is cheap.

With a free market, the government just isn't able to do it. They won't decrease the prices because they don't have power over them.

I cannot remember those times, but from what I know, all those famous Solidarność protests (or, at least, many of them) began not as "we want freedom", "we want free market", but "we want cheaper goods".


Yeah. Strong. With government control.

Language / Grammar question about conditionals in Polish. [20]

1. Jeśli będę miał czas, to ci pomogę.
2. No way to translate it literally, you may say:
Może będę miał czas, jeśli tak, to ci pomogę.
(Maybe I will have time, then I will help you)
By the way, does this sentence in English really have such a meaning as you explain it? Are you a native English speaker? I am not, and I would understand it as: "I don't have time now, but if I had, I would help you" - and then it would be translated in exactly the same way as the sentence [3].

3. Gdybym miał czas, to bym ci pomógł.

Life / I am moving to Warsaw. (Could anyone tell me about life there?) [49]



Yes. It may still go above 20 deg. C, but not much. Maybe also below 10 deg. at mornings. But it will be rather getting colder and colder. It will be coldest in January and February (let's say between -10 and 10, sometimes it may go below -10, and it will rather not reach 10). From March it gets warmer and warmer.


x-kom.pl for a laptop, they have also normal shops in shopping malls.

For clothes, also check shopping malls.

Language / Grammar question about conditionals in Polish. [20]


Usually not, both you and the person you talk to usually know whether the help was needed in the past, or it is needed now :-)

Po polsku / Co sądzicie o prawie do wyborów w Polsce? Głosowanie za granicą. [18]


Jeśli ktoś wyjechał za granicę tylko np. na rok, to jak najbardziej powinien mieć prawo głosu. I to, według mnie, głosu z listy tej gminy, w której w Polsce mieszka, a nie z listy warszawskiej.

Powinna być też taka możliwość przy wyborach samorządowych i referendach. W przypadku referendów lokalnych może to być ciężkie do zrealizowania od strony technicznej - ale też nie niemożliwe. Mogłoby się odbywać korespondencyjnie, ale nie poprzez ambasadę/konsulat, jak jest obecnie, lecz bezpośrednio poprzez odpowiedni urząd miasta.

Travel / Need advice on trip to Poland [12]


Bought earlier is in the most cases cheaper for long-distance trains. For local trains it makes no difference.

On local trains (at least those of the Przewozy Regionalne company) you can get a 30% discount for all except one from a group of from 2 to 4. So, in your case, for 5 persons you can get 3 discounted tickets. The offer is called "Ty i raz - dwa - trzy":

przewozyregionalne.pl/ty-i-raz-dwa-trzy

To use a similar offer for long-distance trains, you need at least one child not older than 16, so for them it will not work in your case. But for local trains yes.


Currently there is no passenger trains to Łomża. They are going to be reintroduced after the renovation of the tracks, which is going to be done until 2023. The nearest train stations to Kolno with passenger traffic are: Pisz, Ostrołęka and Śniadowo.

But Łomża seems to be the only town with which Kolno has a connection better than just a single bus in a whole day.

See the timetables:
pks.lomza.pl/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=32
faster.net.pl/linia/lomza-kolno
Be careful with that many of those buses operate only on working days or on school days (those "on school days only" will not work during school holidays) - read the annotations.

Check for bus connections at e-podroznik.pl

There is many bus lines that can take you from Warsaw to Łomża, you can also google the phrase "autobus warszawa łomża" albo "bus warszawa łomża".

Language / Grammar question about conditionals in Polish. [20]


No, "jeśli" feels much more distanced than "jak" :-)

Normally people talking to each other usually use "jak" instead of "jeśli". Or you can replace it with "kiedy" or "gdy" either. But it has an equivalent in English, where you can replace "if" with "when".


"to bym" is written separately, but apart from that, it's OK.
The "by" particle, being an equivalent of the English conditional "would", "could" etc., is written together only after a verb which is not in an impersonal form (so it's not an infinitive and not the form ending with "-ono"/"-to"). In all other cases it's written separately.

So you can write:
-> Gdybym miał czas, to pomógłbym ci.
but:
-> Gdybym miał czas, to bym ci pomógł.

Other examples (with impersonal verbs):
-> Gdyby państwo miało pieniądze, to wybudowałoby autostradę.
but:
-> Gdyby były pieniądze, to wybudowano by autostradę.

And it's enough in most cases. More detailed rules (in Polish) are here:
- when to write it together: sjp.pwn.pl/zasady/Pisownia-laczna-czastek-I-bym-I-I-bys-I-I-by-I-I-bysmy-I-I-byscie-I;629503.html
- when to write it separately: sjp.pwn.pl/zasady/Pisownia-rozdzielna-czastek-I-bym-I-I-bys-I-I-by-I-I-bysmy-I-I-byscie-I;629509.html


Yes!


Yes, here it's a kinda equivalent of the English "to". Normally it's used as "żeby", but it can be shorted to "by". So:

-> Chcę żebyś mi pomógł.
or:
-> Chcę byś mi pomógł.
The third option is "aby":
-> Chcę abyś mi pomógł.

Means, of course:
-> I want you to help me.

In this use - in normal talks with people "żeby" is used most often. "By" is used more in formal situations (sometimes in talks as well, but not so often), "aby" is rather reserved for literature and most formal cases.

By the way, it can be used in all the persons.
-> On chce żebym mu pomógł. -> He wants me to help him.
-> Chcę żebyś mi pomógł. -> I want you to help me.
-> Chcę żeby mi pomógł. -> I want him to help me.
-> On chce żebyśmy mu pomogli. -> He wants us to help him.
-> Chcę żebyście mi pomogli. -> I want you (all) to help me.
-> Chcę żeby mi pomogli. -> I want them (a group of men or men and women) to help me.
-> Chcę żeby mi pomogły. -> I want them (a group of women, animals or things) to help me.

By the way, such a combination is also possible:
-> Chciałbym żebyś mi pomógł. -> I would like you to help me.
Two uses of "by" in a single sentence :-) The "by" meaning "would" and the "by" (or, exactly, "żeby") meaning "to".

And it's crucial to remember that sometimes "by" can be located in different positions, and one time it will be written together with another word, another time separately. See:

-> Chciałbym cię zapytać, czy byś mi pomógł.
-> Chciałbym cię zapytać, czy pomógłbyś mi.
Both meaning:
-> I would like to ask you if you could help me.
(as far as I know, it's forbidden in English to put "will" in any form after "if", so I replaced it with "can")

Why do I have to write everything about the specific grammar topic when someone asks about Polish grammar on this forum? Should I teach foreigners Polish grammar, or what?

Travel / Help: Travelling from Gliwice to Zilina (Slovakia) [7]

You can get to Zwardoń, and catch a train to Zilina from there. The trains to Zwardoń go from Katowice.

Another option is through Cieszyn. You take a train to Cieszyn (from Katowice you must change in Czechowice-Dziedzice), walk about 2 km to the station in Cesky Tesin (the Czech part of Cieszyn) and catch there a direct train to Zilina. But the train to Cieszyn doesn't reach Cieszyn in the time to the end of September, there is a replacement bus service on the section between the last station before Cieszyn (Cieszyn Marklowice) and Cieszyn.

There are also trains between the station in the Polish and Czech part of Cieszyn, but their timetable doesn't make much sense when you want to get there from Katowice, it's better to walk.

There is also an option through Bohumin.

I will try to compare the prices. Assuming local trains in the Polish part. You can take an EIC from Katowice to Bohumin, and it will be faster, but also much more expensive.

1. Through Zwardoń.
Gliwice-Zwardoń with a train change in Katowice - Koleje Śląskie - 23 zł (= 5 euro)
Skalite-Zilina - ZSSK - 2,45 euro (train from Zwardoń)
+ maybe a surcharge for buying the ticket on the board, sth like 2 euro, but rather not
It seems that when you board the train in Zwardoń and ask the conductor for a ticket to Zilina, you will get a ticket from Skalite, the first station in Slovakia. So crossing the border is "unofficially" free of charge. You can buy an international ticket from Zwardoń to Zilina, but it doesn't make any sense, as it's much more expensive.

-> 7,5 euro together, around 6 hours

2. Through Bohumin.
Gliwice-Chałupki - Koleje Śląskie - 21 zł (= 5 euro)
Chałupki-Bohumin - Koleje Śląskie - 2 zł (= 0,5 euro) (trans-border ticket)
Bohumin-Zilina - CD - 138 CZK (= 5 euro)

But on weekends you can buy a ticket from the Silesia Weekend offer. It gives you 15% discount from Gliwice to Chałupki and allows unlimited travels in a big part of Czech Republic. With this ticket, on the train to Zilina you can get to Mosty u Jablunkova:



So when you change trains in Bohumin, it's enough to buy a ticket from Navsi to Zilina. The trains from Bohumin to Zilina don't stop in Mosty, so I am not sure if you could do it with a ticket from Mosty, but for sure you can do it with a ticket from Navsi, where the train stops, and it's still in the area covered by the Silesia Weekend ticket.

Then the ticket for the Slovak-Czech part will cost only 127 CZK (= 4,7 euro) + the Polish ticket will be cheaper.

If you buy a return ticket for the Polish part, the discount will be 20%, and the rules for Czech Republic are the same.

3 The same rules as through Bohumin and similar prices are through Cieszyn.

And, by the way, you can also buy a daily network ticket of Koleje Śląskie for 34 zł, which works in the same way as the Silesia Weekend ticket in terms of Czech Republic, but allows to travel on all the Koleje Śląskie trains for a single day, so you can use it as a return ticket if you return on the same day.

Of course, you can also use EIC trains, which are fast, but it will be more expensive.

Language / Grammar question about conditionals in Polish. [20]


Ok, then it's well to learn something new. Still good that I gave a link to this website. I was always convinced that it should be written separately in this case. Maybe the reason (practical reason why the rule is so) is that it makes a pair with "jakby". Jakby ..., toby ....

You can see that Polish often surprises even its native speakers.

And the rules how to use the comma properly... they are just complicated. And I have learnt English too much and I move to Polish something which is the only correct way of writing in English (but incorrect in Polish).

Travel / Warsaw to Cracow trains [7]

There are a few websites with connections search:

old.rozklad-pkp.pl/bin/query.exe/en?
portalpasazera.pl/en/

Put Warszawa as "from", Kraków as "to" (may not work without Polish diacritics, so the best idea is to copy-paste) and it will find all the connections.

Also at the website of the train operator: intercity.pl/en/

If you want a pure timetable - here: portalpasazera.pl/en/Tablice- table B130.

The fastest trains are EIP.

Life / Which is the best mobile network in Poland? [29]

I am not sure about which network has actually cheapest international calls, but Play is usually a good choice.

If you go to Ukraine (I don't really get it from your post), using a Polish SIM in Ukraine is expensive, get a local one there.

In Germany (no idea if you return to England by car or by plane) - it will be comparable with using local German SIM cards. Using a Polish SIM in roaming in Germany can be even cheaper than using a local German SIM without roaming.

Because the new Polish SIM cards have to be registered, the best idea is to purchase one in a store of the operator, for example Play - you should find one in any shopping mall. Some newspaper kiosks and, in some cases, post offices can also do it, but it depends on the operator. So the best idea is to go to a shop of the operator and say you need a pre-paid SIM and you want to register it.

Travel / Warsaw to Cracow trains [7]

There are also some TLK trains, equally fast as the IC. They are older and they don't have the diner coach or compartment, but if price is important, they may be also a good choice.

You can just uncheck the EIP and EIC trains in the connection search.

Actually, looking at the timetable - there are actually three non-EIP and non-EIC trains on a day from Warsaw to Kraków using the fast CMK route on the whole length between Warsaw and Kraków (there are also some going first through Skierniewice and Koluszki, and entering it in the neighbourhood of Opoczno - they are slower). And all of them are TLK trains, so with older coaches and without a diner. There are some IC as well, but they use the CMK route only partially, and some of them are actually ED74 Bydgostia trains, which aren't really good train units for a longer route (they were designed for the route from Łódź to Warsaw, but they turned out to be too small - luckily, they are going to be sold to one of the local train operators now).

IC Orłowicz, IC Kolberg and IC Żeromski are on Flirt trains, but they go through Kielce, so they are slow. There is also the IC Wit Stwosz, but it uses Bydgostia trains.

News / A better Polish solution: aiding refugees in their home region [29]


Any aid will not change much in their lifes so long as the war there is going on. The war must be stopped.


Maybe because it's a civil war and they don't support any of the sides, they just want it to end. Just an idea.

Po polsku / Co sądzicie o prawie do wyborów w Polsce? Głosowanie za granicą. [18]

Powiem tak. Ja mieszkałem przez rok w Niemczech i mimo tego więcej wiedziałem na temat tego, co aktualnie działo się w Polsce i w moim mieście w Polsce, niż co się aktualnie działo w Niemczech i w mieście w Niemczech w którym mieszkałem.

A większość wyborców, nawet mieszkających w Polsce, w ogóle nie interesuje się bieżącą polityką - ani trochę. Skutek tego jest taki, że wygrywają populiści. Dobrze że nie ma u nas obowiązku udziału w wyborach, jak w Australii, bo wtedy byłoby z tym jeszcze gorzej. Tak mamy tę ok. 50-procentową frekwencję, i to w jakiś sposób ogranicza odsetek tych, którzy głosują nie wiedząc tak naprawdę, na kogo głosują.

News / A better Polish solution: aiding refugees in their home region [29]

Well, democracy is not a good political system.

Law / Is it possible to convert my Pakistani driving licence to a Polish one? [46]

It may be so that passing the written part is enough when you already have a foreign driving license.

And most people fail the practical test, not the "written" part (actually solved on a computer).

Language / Differences in Polish and English idioms [69]

Wishing "colorful dreams" makes sense. Colorful means here interesting and nice.