Polish Conditional - if you would..

Hello everyone,

I have a question regarding polish conditional. How do I say: "If you would come (to some place), we would..."

And if after that I want to follow with some activites, then how are they formed?
Like: "If you would come, we would sunbathe"?

Thanks for you help:)

Isn't the correct English sentence "if you came, we would..."?

Anyway, there are a couple of ways to say that sentence:
"Gdybyś przyszedł, (po)opalalibyśmy się."
"Gdybyś przyszedł, byśmy się (po)opalali."
"Jeśli byś przyszedł, (po)opalalibyśmy się."
"Jeśli byś przyszedł, byśmy się (po)opalali."

I hope you know Polish good enough to analyza the sentences' structure and figure out a more general rule of creating such conditionals.

Are you sure that this sentence is correct in English?

In case you mean: "if you come, we will sunbath", that'll be:

jeśli przyjdziesz, będziemy się opalać
or
jeśli przyjdziesz, poopalamy się

unreal situation: "If I were you, I would think twice"

gdybym był tobą, zastanowiłbym się dwa razy

past situation which never happened: "If I had had more money, I would have bought a better car back then"

gdybym miał wtedy więcej pieniędzy, to bym kupił lepszy samochód or kupiłbym lepszy samochód

Past situation which never happened but has a result now: "If I had chosen those numbers in that lottery, I would be rich now"

gdybym wtedy skreślił te numery w tamtej loterii, byłbymteraz bogaty

It's not.

Maaarysia, thanks for your help with this. I really appreciate it.

you're welcome.

A nice learning example for conditionals, taken from the song "Klub wesołego szampana":

A gdybymmiał cię zjeść
To co byś powiedziała
A ugryźć gdybym chciał
Czy coś byś przeciw miała

Chciałabym, chciała, chciałabym, chciała
Chciałabym, chciała, chciałabym, chciała

A gdybymbył krogulcem
To co byś powiedziała
I gdybym przyszedł z teczką
Do łóżka i twego ciała

Chciałabym, chciała, chciałabym, chciała
Chciałabym, chciała, chciałabym, chciała

A gdybym był młotkowym
W fabryce z młotkiem szalał
To co byś powiedziała
Czy coś byś przeciw miała

Drżałabym, drżała, drżałabym, drżała

A gdybymmusiał odejść
Z teczką od twego ciała
Uciekać do robala
To co byś powiedziała

Żałowałabym ...je..a..je..a..je..a..je..a..

Perfective or imperfective after the condtional form?

Chciałbym mówić(imperfective verb) dobrze po polsku.

Chciałbym spróbować(perfective verb).

From this example it looks like you can use both, the same as you could use both imperfective or perfective verbs to describe something in that you will do in the future. Am I right or close enough?

thanks

Yes. If your intention is just doing something you use imperf. If your intention is to achieve some result you use perfective.
The same with the condition. You can use either perf or imperf depending on what the actual condition is (some result of an action or the action (doing it) itself resp.).

Cinek

Thanks Cinek

The English sentence "If you would come (to some place), we would..." is correct. I recommend reading this:

angielski.edu.pl/okresy_warunkowe/first_conditional_375.html

short, very precise and easy to understand explanation of using "will" and "would" after "if" :)

In Polish we usually say "Na twoim miejscu" instead of "Gdybym był tobą". "Gdybym był tobą" is correct, but sounds strange a bit.

No it isn't.

Have to side with my fellow native English speaker here:-) "If you CAME.." is the correct way.

May I ask you to check if the informations given on webside "matichia" suggested are correct? I mean the part about usage of will and would after if, sentences: (7) - (12). Also if the sentence (10) is really related to 1st conditional.

Well, here's the rule on this: I WILL come to see you tomorrow. (simple future indicative) vs. I WOULD come to see you, if.... (conditional). Naturally, the two sentences are not interchangable:-)!

Lyzko, I know that. But I'm asking you to check the website, since you know Polish enough to understand what they say there.

Tried to access the site for yet a second time and still come up blank, sorry a.k.:-)

I have tried to access it as well for a.k, but it looks like you have to register first.

no, you just have to type www at the front of the adress. I am not registered and have no problem with access. Besides that it's well known site.

The grammar on this site a.k, is not very good, and the information isn't correct. It even had me questioning my use of Grammar!

sentence#7
" If you will cook the fish, I shall prepare salad".
It should be " If you cook the fish, I will/shall prepare salad.

#8
" If you would answer the phone, I shall have some rest"
This doesn't make sense. What i would say is:
" If you could/can answer the phone, then i can have a rest" OR " Would you answer the phone? Then i can have a rest.

#9
" If she will keep on attending my classes, i will be able to teach her something"
This should be:
" If she keeps on attending my classes, i will be able to teach her something.

#10
" If she would admit you were wrong that, I would admire her"
I think this should be interpreted as:
" If she would admit that you were wrong,I would admire her"

#11
" If only it would stop snowing,I could go for a fighting"
Not much sense here! My example:
" If only it would stop snowing, then i could go for a walk"

#12
" If you ( will ) close the door, we shall be able to watch tv"
I would say:
" If you close the door, we can watch tv." OR " If you close the door, we will be able to watch tv"

a.k I have tried to stick as close to the original sentence and Grammar as possible, but i don't think these are particularly good examples.

What may be grammatically correct, is not necessarily what a native speaker would say, as i'm sure you are aware.
E.g sentence#10.
I would say: " If she would just admit that you were wrong, then i would admire her for that.
Hope this helps a bit, and i haven't confused you too much!

And even as an alternative solution to the last one: "If she had just admitted you were wrong, then I would admire her for that."

pam
I'm very thankful to you for your time and extensive response. That was a great help to me. :)

In Polish parts on the page they say that there are circumstances when using would and will after if (which is generally wrong) is acceptable. Would and will in those cases don't fulfil grammar function but express: polite requests/proposals (7) (8), willingness of the subject (9) (10) or a wish that something could happen (11).


For instance here they explain the usage of would as willingness of the subject ("she"), so that it should be read, as I understand, like something along: if she decides to admit that you were wrong, I will admire her (I used here 1st conditional structure since it's the lesson topic).

They also add that using would in this case instead of will expresses disbelief that this will actually happen... so according to my humble knowledge it should relate to 2nd conditional not 1st, in fact meaning: If she decided to admit that you were wrong, I would admire her.


Yes, I'm aware of that. Still I feel there's something fishy about them if you find those sentence unintelligible.


No, they didn't mean the mixed conditional as the first part of original sentence doesn't mean the past event.

I'm not a grammar teacher a.k, and i.m not sure of the difference between 1st and 2nd Conditional.
Like most native speakers, i take my own language for granted, and don't think about it too much until these sort of queries crop up.

What i can tell you is not to rely too much on the website you are learning from. The examples they gave could have been better, and they certainly weren't accurate.

However i only looked at that one page. I am away for the rest of the week, but i'll take a closer look at it when i get back, and let you know what i think.

Good luck with your studies, you're doing really well:)

Thank you so much.