jeśli OR jeżeli

so what's the difference between these 2 words:

jeśli and jeżeli

??

:D.

i see both words often and i understand them both to mean "if"...but i'm not sure which is "more formal" or whatever...i just don't get the difference :).

No difference.

That's what other people have said to me too, when asked. But why choose one and not the other?

For me "jeżeli" is more formal

It is up to you.Just like with pronunciation of "either".Don't know how to write it phonetically but I guess you know what I mean.


It's not.
Edit:Better example would be "further" and "farther" I guess.

That's why I wrote "for me".

I omitted "for me" on purpose.I know you wrote "for me" but I didn't include it in quote because I was directing it at Jon and OP.


You can simply pick whichever sounds better to you.For instance I prefer "further" over "farther" because I somehow associate "farther" with "fart".And I prefer " i-ther" over "e-ther" because to me "i-ther" simply sounds better.Don't know why though.

grubas
actually there's a difference between "further" and "farther" :)

Is that right?What's the difference?I was told there is none.

Farther is about distance only. Further is more flexible.

Ok,I just looked it up and here's what I found."In the United States, though, farther is more often used to refer to physical distances, and further more often refers to figurative and nonphysical distances. For example, we might say that one mountain is farther away than another, while we might say the price of a stock (a nonphysical thing) fell further today than yesterday. This is not a rule, however, and further is often used for physical distances"

I live in the US so excuse me but no difference to me!

oh you live in the US. case close. let's not compare languages now with demographics being a factor.

besides. we're talking about jeśli OR jeżeli (polish; the official language of just one country)

Both are rarely used in everyday language. But if I talk to somebody, I rather use "jeśli" than "jeżeli". "Jeżeli" is good for some letters, documents or official speeches.

Sometimes in everyday speech we say "jak" instead of "jeśli" or "jeżeli", but it's meaning is closer to "gdy".

For example:
Zrobię to, jak wyjdziesz z pokoju. [the least formal]
or - with the same meaning:
Zrobię to, gdy wyjdziesz z pokoju. [more formal]
Zrobię to, jeśli wyjdziesz z pokoju.
Zrobię to, jeżeli wyjdziesz z pokoju.

Everyone means the same, but two first I would translate using "when", two following using "if".

With "gdy" I point out that I will do it just when the room will be free of the other person. With "jeśli" or "jeżeli" - that the other person will have walked out of the room. In effect - the same, but sounds a bit differently.


And the EU :)