"do I" usage in a question?

whether = if = czy

Although I have learned a lot of Polish through humour, one I will always remember is asking a friend, if there were a million women on an Island it's 'były' but if you just put one man, it all changes to 'byly'.

She replied, "Well of course a million women on an island and then along comes one man, it would change everything". :)

but if means also jeśli (or jeżeli) that's why I used word whether.

Not always though.

Czy masz papeirosy?

One thing though is, "czy" always makes the sentence a question.

unless you want to castrate the poor guy ;D

If should be combined with a negative to make it like whether, e.g I don't know if he'll come. It isn't always the case that if = whether.

Ouch!
That is many men's idea of hell, all those women and no toy to play with.

But back on topic, would it change the verb? :)

I'd like to ask you whether you have cigarettes?

I know that sounds lame but it's the way I consider (as a polish native) such language structure... it's like a shortcut, you just drop the first part of sentence.


yes. :)

I used to think of czy as a useless word, kind of like the auxiliary 'do' but only used for questions and now I try not to think of it at all... :) but Okay, I see where you are coming from.


:D

whether and if used in a question mean czy

True, jeśli or jeżeli are more like the 1st conditional in English (the open conditional) and are used for making statements. Czy is a question marker.

Oh, I have also another good example of word czy usage:

Nie ma znaczenia czy użyjesz prezerwatywy (czy nie), ona i tak nie zajdzie w ciążę (if we are still in sexual theme ;)

It doesn't matter whether you use a rubber or not, she won't get pregnant ;)

whether, or - czy, czy
neither, nor - ani, ani

:)

i have been reading some polish text, ant they have used the words,' nie chce' for don't. i thought it was ' robi nie' an explanation please.

chaza

robie nie doesn't mean anything.

Polish doesn't use robić (do, make) as an auxiliary the way that English does.

In answering questions, you just use tak or nie or you repeat the verb from the question.

Chcesz piwo? (do you want a beer?)

Chcę. (I do, lit. I want)

Nie Chcę. (I don't)

Znasz go? (do you know him?).

Znam.

Nie znam.

im still not clear, i thought if i wanted to ask a question i would use czy, so; chcesz piwo, would be czy chcesz piwo. you say robi nie doesnt mean anythying, i undertsood that to mean 'i do not'

i have visited poland two weeks ago, do the suffixes uję, esz, ect apply to most words, i wanted to say 'i miss you both' so i would say' tęsknuję oboje' i have upto now been saying' tęsknota cię'

thanks

chaza

you can, but it's often dropped in everyday usage (the same way that English speakers might say 'you know him?' instead of 'do you know him'


nie robię (I don't do/make that)


Tęsknię za wami. (I miss you(plural)) is enoug, both in this context would be obydwoma (after wami)

thanks undertsood

chaza

[hold that] = Czy muszę trzymać tego?
[know you] = Czy my się znamy?
[go this way] = Czy muszę iść tą drogą?

just simply form the question, for example do i need this, or do i want to go there. use""i" as you would you""you"" lets say':)