Language / Polish grammar - do you have the same words for toes and fingers? [6]

toes and fingers are both palce ( palec, masculine)
yes it's teach somebody and teach yourself- learn. ( uczyć kogoś, uczyć się)

And play is other way where we have two words where English has one
Grać is more serious you play music, musical instruments and sports.
Bawić się is entertain yourself, or toy with something, or children playing, Dobrze się bawić means have fun
Bawić kogoś is entertain (somebody)

Girl smells roses Dziewczyna wącha róże
Girl smells like roses Dziewczyna pachnie różami

Wąchać is when an animal with a nose makes an effort to feel a smell of something (Sniff)
Pachnieć is to emit a pleasant fragnance
Śmierdzieć is to emit an unpleasant fragnance
Zapach is a noun smell

I like a smell of roses Lubię zapach róż

Language / Polish Grammar - ile - ilu ? [9]

Ile osób przyjdzie osoba is female osoby are not masculine personal
Ilu gości przyjdzie gość is male goście are masculine personal

Travel / Buying Train Tickets online - I'm going to Poland soon [18]

you can see prices just before logging in.

News / Closet homosexual politicians in Poland [83]

While I don't believe him to be homosexual ( more in denial than closeted) but if he were he would have to hide very well with being a leader of rather homophobic party with even more homophobic electorate

Travel / Buying Train Tickets online - I'm going to Poland soon [18]

You need to decide between cheaper and more comfy but more expensive. TLK costs 35 zł while EIC 130

Travel / Baggage size limit on Trains in Poland? [16]

While it is said it has to fit above your seat it doesn't specify how big it has to be.
standard The biggest luggage bags not always fit above your head ( or to be more specific there is place for two of those where luggage for 4 pasangers should fit) but I've never seen anybody charged for it. Keep in mind you probably will have to put your luggage above your head yourself, so don't take more than you can lift.

Language / Polish Grammar - ile - ilu ? [9]

I'd say mixed groups are mostly ilu but osoby, dzieci and niemowlęta are exceptions.

It's because usually there is a singular male form and sometimes female counterpart but singular "osoba" is feminine but means person regardless of sex, while children and babies are neuter.

The cited above book claims some specific rules but they are complicated. You can come back to them in few years when you will like to sound more natural, for now I'd say :

men and most mixed groups - ilu
women animals and inanimated objects ile

exceptions from mixed groups:
osoby- people
dzieci- children
niemowlęta- babies

Travel / Baggage size limit on Trains in Poland? [16]

I wouldn't count on room by your seat. If it's standard medium about 65/40/20 cm it should fit above your head but pack in a way that somebody else could put their smaller bag on it and not damage anything. Be sure you can lift it above your head. (Probably somebody will help you) If you travel Warsaw to Krakow most passengers will board with you and leave with you, but also there are many people who travel with little luggage . It depends on the day ( when exactly do you arrive ? last days of September can be crowded )

Also if your luggage is on two wheels you may have to carry it while on train

Intercity has tree types of carriages (that I've encountered)
with compartments for 8 people in two rows facing each-other , with place for luggage above your head (if there are full people there is enough place on floor for your legs and nothing else and no place under a seat.

- with compartments for 6 people ( those are new cars) as above but with more place as the same space is for 6 pairs of legs and 6 pieces of luggage

In both you can leave your luggage at corridor if necessary.

- - without compartments , looks like inside of a bus but half seats face one direction and half the other. Less space at shelf above you but there is space under a seat. You cant place anything near your seat but there are shelves and free space for luggage at the beginning and end of the carriage.

Regio is no compartments, less space above , no additional space for luggage and more people without any luggage ( depends on route)

Language / Polish grammar - do you have the same words for toes and fingers? [6]

with games like computer games and card games and board games it's "grać"

Travel / Baggage size limit on Trains in Poland? [16]

It goes more to the buying ticket, but when travelling with other person , if you get "bez przedziałów" carriage (without compartments) try to get one seat next to window and other next to that seat, they tend to sell two window seats and you end up seating one'e back before another's face.

Language / pierze vs myje ? [7]

wash clothes- prać ubranie (to launder?)

wash hands - myć ręce
wash floor - myć podłogę

Language / pierze vs myje ? [7]

Yes prać is infinitive and pierze is among other things form for he/she/it washes.

prać- to wash

ja piorę I wash
ty pierzesz you wash
on ona ono pierze he/she/it washes
my pierzemy we wash
wy pierzecie you wash
oni piorą they wash

Polish is fun like that

and wet is mokry/mokra/mokre in nominativ depending on the word's gender

Language / pierze vs myje ? [7]

wash is mostly for textiles. It could be used in metaphorical sense as listed above, or sometimes about things that were put in washing machine.

Language / Going to learn the Polish Genitive Case [28]

Indy people make those lists because they believe it's easiest to learn.
There are -y and -i for feminine words. -a and -u for masculine and -a or -ęcia for neutral words. Look at declension tables and see endings for yourself . There are many exceptions in Polish sometimes words are masculine but have feminine declension like mężczyzna or the endings are according to the rules but word changes like pies- psa.

Those different qestions that all mostly mean who and what - different cases have different questions. Polish people learn declensions with them.

Coming buck to names - nobody knows how to declense foreign names (Other than teachers , profession
al proof-readers and University students).

Polish female names always end with "a" but Genitive can be either with -i or -y
Kasia- Kasi, Maria-Marii, Maja-Mai Anka-Anki Agnieszka-Agnieszki
Marta-Marty, Anna-Anny, Genowefa-Genowefy

male forms end with consonants and you add -a
Paweł-Pawła
Piotr-Piotra
Michał-Michała
Grześ-Grzesia

There are some male nicknames ending with o or -u , then you replace them with "A"
Staś-Stasia
Stasio-Stasia
Jaś-Jasia
Jasio-Jasia
Miś-Misia
Misiu-Misia

Also you asked what is affected

To jest książka tego nowego ucznia
This is a book of this(the) new student
to jest książka tej znanej pisarki Marii Konopnickiej
This is a book of this (the) famous writer Maria Konopnicka
all the bolded words are in genitive.

Also in Polish the Genitive question is kogo? czego? while direct translation for whose? is czyj? czyja? czyje? ( depending on the gender of the owned thing)

That is because genitive is not only for possessions.
Common use is for negations , and the question polish kids learn for genitive is "who is not there" "kogo nie ma"

Language / Going to learn the Polish Genitive Case [28]

The trouble with rosetta from what I read at this site, is that it is not designed especially for Slavic languages, so it introduces difficult stuff in random moments, and it doesn't explain much.

Tables can help you look up words and find endings. I checked that polish.slavic.pitt.edu/polish/ has a dictionary with noun and verb forms shown.

Language / Is ę and ń always pronounced the same? [11]

first: ń and ę are different sounds
second: ę can sound differently depending on where in word it is
ń is mostly at the end so sounds the same but there is also ni
and that can be like in nie or in nic
thy listening here ivona.com/pl/

Language / Is ę and ń always pronounced the same? [11]

don't be to hard on people. I say Mania (girl) and mania (manic) exactly the same, and I'm Native speaker, so don't dwell on nuances too much. What is important is to remember where to loose that"i" like in nie - ńe

Travel / First vacation in Poland [15]

Most of Mickiewicz related places are in Lithuania and France.

Language / Is ę and ń always pronounced the same? [11]

n and ń are different sounds

Wikipedia says it's like ny in Canyon or Spanish n~

Language / Polish keyboard incompatibility issues [11]

Ussually people use alt+letter for polish letters. but there is another " typewriter" setting. (I think it's called Polski 214- that's what it says on my settings, when I accidently change to it)

It has z and y switched, polish letters in the place of [];' and all the punctuaction marks in different places. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTZ#Poland

Travel / Baggage size limit on Trains in Poland? [16]

The worst thing happening would be having to pay for excessive luggage in the train.

In Regio the rule is:


that is You can have up to three pieces of easy to carry luggage such as suitcase , backpack, traveling bag, ....

source przewozyregionalne.pl/sites/default/files/pliki/129/08072014-rpr-calosc.pdf

in intercity there is usually enough space for suitcase above your head. And I travelled with another passengers suitcase pressing my legs because it was too heavy for her to put it up, and she did't have any trouble or have to pay anything (that was this spring). If there is no space for your suitcase above because all passengers happen to have big suitcases, just ask konduktor what to do, and ask if you have to pay.

also I just read e-IC rules about buing tickets online


Which is if you have an internet ticket you travel with kids under 4, luggage that doesn't fit above or below your seat, bicycle or a dog you can buy a ticket for them without paying fee for buying ticket at train.

Work / Moving to Lodz - will my 2500 PLN salary be enough? [52]

ZUS is more than retirement insurance. It's also health insurance, sick leave and unemployment benefits. Check what they tell you is 1) after paying tax and ZUS and 2) Zus is paid. I don't know if you can employ a foreigner without it, but it's common for Polish people to work this way. If you get a garbage deal you need a health insurance.

USA, Canada / I embrace the term "Polak" or "Pollack" in the US [33]

Are you sure? I wanted to ask what's the difference and it seems I wad taught wrong , I said polish like Polish. I mean it's palisz or Polisz

USA, Canada / I embrace the term "Polak" or "Pollack" in the US [33]

OK Why this dictionary
oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/polish
has different pronunciation than this one
merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polish?show=0&t=1408459182

And since it seems I was saying polisz all my life it seems we should maybe teach teachers how to pronounce it? and to pay attention?

Language / tej samej versus tego samego [9]

" telefony komórkowe "
1) it's plural
2) noun + adjective

tej samej wielkości:
the same size
this group of words is all Genitive and tej samej in in feminine form because wielkość is feminine

różnych kolorów
different colours
in Genitive , in plural , colour is not personal.

Language / Is ę and ń always pronounced the same? [11]

Maybe, for me there is no difference between "h"chata and huta but a lot of difference between nadzieje and nadzieję.

Language / tej samej versus tego samego [9]

in Nominative its wielkość , and as miłość (love), radość(joy, happiness) wysokość(height) szerokość(width) długość(length), jasność (brightness) ciemność (darkness) its feminine

Id say most nouns that end in "ść" and describe abstract ideas are feminine. ( many translate to -ness in English) (But it's Polish, proceed with caution)

Language / kilka vs troche ? [12]

kilka is less than 11 more than 1 (for things you can count) troche is small amount of and mostly for things you can't count. Also kilka is always witch plural, while troche could be with either plural or singular.

Language / tej samej versus tego samego [9]



from that site that was cited few treads ago

I tried to recall other examples, and there are ones ending with c (noc-night) cz (klacz- female horse) ń ( jesień - autumn) źń (przyjaźń- friendship) ć (nić-thread) dź (szadź- hard rime)

As is said above , proceed with caution.

Language / kilka vs troche ? [12]

oh, cases we love them, ( but it seems nice, it's Genitiv)
piwo- singular - mam piwo(N), mam troche piwa(G)
piwa - plural - mam 2 piwa (N), mam kilka piw (G) ( kilka works like numbers over 5)