"Dzień dobry! Mam na imię Elizabeth." - Is my grammar correct? (A VERY basic paragraph!)

I'm trying to teach myself Polish. I've only been doing so for, at most, 3 weeks, so I am still in the very basic stages. I am using books from my public library and some Youtube videos as reference. I compiled this little "biography" about myself using the terms I have learned. I'd like somebody to check it and let me know if my grammar is correct! Thanks!

Dzień dobry! Mam na imię Elizabeth. Mam osiemnascie lat. Jestem z Ameryki. Lubię Polska i język polski! Równiez, lubię cyztać, pisać i robić zakupy. Moja ulubiona kolor jest różowy.

That's about as far as I was able to get :(
I tried to construct the sentence "I hope to learn Polish" but I am having difficulty. Any help?

Mam na imię Elizabeth. Very good
Mam osiemnascie lat. Mam osiemnaście lat
Jestem z Ameryki. Basic but correct.
Lubię Polska i język polski! Lubię Polskę i język polski.
Równiez, lubię cyztać, pisać i robić zakupy. Lubię też czytać, pisać i robić zakupy.
Moja ulubiona kolor jest różowy. Mój ulubiony kolor jest różowy (theoretically correct but sounds bit silly)

Thank you very much, Bzibzioh!

This means "getting groceries"
"Going shopping" would more likely be: "chodzić na zakupy"

urszula


Thanks for fixing that for me! I appreciate the help

Very good gramma :) Great to read Your words that You like polish :)

Thank you so much for the encouragement!! I hope to speak Polish fluently one day :)

One thing to remember Liz Polish grammar is hard for a non speaker the suffix at the end of words changes depending when you're referring to a male or female, past/present/future, a person or a thing. If you practice you'll get the hang of it.


Moj ulubiony kolor jest różowy (my favorite color is pink)
you can say Moja ulubiona in a sentence like this Moja ulubiona piosenka to S&M (my favorite song is S&M)

Or "Mam na imię Elżbieta albo [czy] Elizabeth po angielsku."

(My name is Elżbieta or [that is] Elizabeth in English)

Good luck to you Ms. E. :-))

Mój ulubiony kolor to różowy.
or:
Moim ulubionym kolorem jest różowy.

Yes, of course it's way better but she is at the beginners level so I left it.

I can already tell, even in the early stages of learning Polish, that this will be a struggle!!


Could someone explain why it has to be in this particular tense? It is because "kolor" is masculine?

No. Because you're going into detail not simply stating or pointing out a pink color.
Moim ulubionym kolorem jest różowy-My favorite color is pink
kolor różowy- color pink

I was born in Poland but moved out as a kid. So I've had to relearn Polish and I've given up on the "why's" and focus on the "just because." :))

Good luck to you. ;)

Oh, and from a different thread, if you have access to an iPhone/iPad or just a regular computer (which obviously you must have :) this is what I posted for someone else.

How can i teach my child Polish language? (I'm Russian, my wife is Polish)

Rosyjska (well, technically it should be Rosjanin :) - your daughter might be too young for an iPod (or iPhone) but I think you can use this program from a regular computer too. Check out innovativelanguage.com/learn-polish. I have the Mandarin and the Japanese version on my iPhone and I love it. I actually bought it on survivorphrases.com but the website doesn't come up anymore?? I think innovative language bought them because the iPhone app is still showing as "survivorphrases".

They use simple phrases and a pretty logical layout. Probably "too adult aka boring" for your daughter but it'd help you to learn Polish for sure (and your wife to learn Russian ;).

You might want to remind your wife that it takes two to tango, sounds like she's more into dancing ballet - solo. ;)

Good luck to you and congrats on being a great and a thoughtful dad!
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Here's the app store link

Polish - itunes.apple.com/us/app/survivalphrases-polish/id363657013?mt=8

Russian - itunes.apple.com/us/app/survivalphrases-russian/id362554607?mt=8

It costs ~$20 per language, I don't get any kickbacks from them, and the audiobook version was cheaper ~$12 I think but this is a good way to "hear" the language being spoken. Rosetta is probably a much better, more in depth program but costs more.

Polish grammar is a very similar to Latin in that it's all about the verb. Each Polish verb carries its specific case. In the example the verb "jest"(is/to be) takes the instrumental.

So then do the forms of 'favorite' and 'color' have to match the verb case?

yes. The grammar is demanding BUT it certainly is not impossible :) Good luck! Keep asking questions. The PF community is very helpful. I've had many of my grammar questions answered here.

Hahaha, ok! Thanks so much for the help. I look forward to learning more Polish, even though it is a very daunting task! I think I can do it, though!

Of course you can. I was being facetious in my earlier post. :)