may/might (expression)

if i wanted to express something that i may or might not do or want to do, would i use the word ' moc'
and would i be correct in saying that, this word means both 'may' and ' might'.

i.e
i might not go there today
i may want to see you today
you might not like it

thanks

chaza

"Moc" means 'strength' or 'power', not 'may' or 'might'.
You can use it for physical strength or mental, same as in English, you can even use it to describe strong wodka ;)

'może' is the word I think you are looking for, meaning 'might' or 'may'.

i might not go there today = może pójdę tam dziś.

i may want to see you today = może będęą chciala cie zobaczyć dziś.

you might not like it = może ci się nie spodoba.

thanks for that, the word i thought it was is 'moć'
but does the word moźe also mean ' maybe' i suppose the person you are talking to will know which word i mean by the context of the conversation.

thanks

chaza

Yes, 'moźe' also means 'maybe', 'it's possible', 'may' 'might', 'it could be'. All these mean the same thing.

thanks sean
its a great help

chaz

Sometimes we all need a hand and if I am able I will always lend it :)

i was just looking at my book 301 verbs, and i see mogę, moźe, they both mean , can, may, able.

i suspect i may have missed some point here.

chaza

mogę is different to moźe.
Mogę means "I can" or "I have the ability" or "I am allowed".

For the sake of confusion, I think it's better if you tackle one word at a time.

I have had Polish people tell me of the confusion they had in English with similar sounding words "cat, sat, mat, that, pat" etc...

It's the same for us.

thanks sean
i have been learning polish for 14mnth, i can hold a conversation now, but there are still some little bits of confusion like this one. on the whole i think i'm doing good. but every bit helps as they say.

word order is my biggest battle right now, but the fight goes on.

thanks

chaza

I still have a problem with this.
Trying to find out who is doing what to whom, is a pain in the neck.

My Polish grammar still has a lot to be desired.

so you can see where i am coming from, at the end of the day, as long as my polish friends can understand what i want to say, thats the job done. all the rest will fall into place as it comes.

i write better polish then i do speaking it.

chaza

Moć is urine if I'm not mistaken ;)

Moc is power/strength

i just chjecked my book and the word is móc/ potrafić

Mocz seanus, mocz ;D

móc, to be able, may ect

As I was saying, moć and mocz are similar. Some sounds I have a problem with :)

czeszę vs cieszę

It can sound pretty funny if you say "Czeszę się bardzo" - does it happens to you? ;)

Może "is" actually 2 different words.

Może (number 1) means maybe (and it's never conjugated or declined). So it's easy to handle.

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Może (number 2) is the 3rd person singular of the verb you mentioned moć (on/ona/ono/to może). This word means to be able to.

To be able to (moć):
Ja mogę
Ty możesz
on/ona/ono/to może
etc...

This conjugation you can find in 301 Polish Verbs.

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Może (number 1) = maybe
Może (number 2) = to be able to

You must look at the context to determine which of the 2 meanings is the correct one in a given sentence.


In these cases you use Może number 1 (see above).

and don't confuse it with "morze" which means "sea" and sounds the same...

sorry that one is much more difficult then they describe above

I might go there today. = Może pójdę tam dzisiaj.
but
I might not go there today. = Może tam dzisiaj nie pójdę. Is very specific and can not be used easily much safer is Możliwe że tam dzisiaj nie pójdę.

Darn, I missed that one... good call.


Double darn, missed that one too.

Such sentences often use the expression "[jest] możliwe, że ..." in Polish.
(a) Jest możliwe, że dzisiaj tam nie pójdę.
(b) Możliwe, że będę chciała cię dziś zobaczyć. / Możliwe, że będę się chciała dziś z tobą spotkać.

It's just short for 'być może' which means literarily 'may be'.

Cinek

yes, one of the liittle issues i have is getting my mouth to say all the strange sounds, like szcs, prze.... and stuff

but im getting there

It's one of the main problems. Many people have problems with ć, ń, ś, ź, ni, si, ci, zi. The so called softening of consonants.