Zeszyt i globus

This is going to be a challenge! That notebook speaks so fast, it's hard to separate the words. But glob is nice and easy. Really cute ad! Enjoy!

Idioms:
coś jest w kratkę - it means that something is variable and unstable; we often say "pogoda w kratkę" or "chodzić do szkoły w kratkę" meaning: 'the weather is variable' and 'skipping school'. "W kratkę" also means 'checkered'. In Poland we like checkered notebooks, they are extremely popular.

obracać się w wielkim świecie - literally 'rotate in the big world'. I'm sure you have the equivalent in English. It's being used to describe someone who is cosmopolitan and knows important people from the 'big world'. (Karol suggested 'high flyer' - thank you!)

innego wyjścia nie ma - there's no other option, wyjście - exit.

O masz! A tam! - these are exclamations used to express hopelessness in any given situation.

... ... ...

Panie globus, co mam robić? Bo ja, proszę pana, ja …………. być taki ……… pan, obracać się w ……………… świecie. Co ……….. robić?

No, na to jest …………… …………… rada, chłopcze. Musisz się ………… uczyć.

O masz, ……………… wyjścia nie ma?

Nie ma. A jak ci ………….. nauka?

A tam, w ………………..

Produkty z Biedronki polecają się …… ………………..

The streets of your city

zdawać sobie sprawę - to realize
sprawa - matter, affair, point,
kryć/ukrywać/chować - to hide
historia is both a story and history

Demotywatory.pl

Demotywatory.pl is a website presenting various demotivational pictures. I thought it might be a fun way to learn Polish so I am going to post demotivators here from time to time.




kliknij na zdjęcie, aby je powiększyć / click to see a bigger image


Useful expression: wyglądać jak / wyglądać tak jak - to look like
Twoja córka wygląda tak jak ty.
Wyglądasz jak twój dziadek.

!

Kocham moje życie!!!!!!!

Słownik - a dictionary

What makes a good Polish dictionary?
Well, it seems that the most important thing for you should be verb endings. To be able to conjugate our verbs you need to know the endings of the 1st and 2nd persons singular. And this is what a good dictionary will offer you. (I wrote about verb endings here)
You will be able to guess the pattern of conjugation of a particular verb and in time you will get the same feeling like a native speaker. But even if your Polish is quite advanced, there are still some irregular verbs that can surprise you as they often surprise Poles themselves!

Most of my students use a Collins Polish dictionary. I posess one too and can certainly recommend it. It gives you the endings. It has a lot more in it. You can read a description here: Literia.pl.
The cheapest way to get a dictionary would probably be Amazon.

Prezenty pod choinkę - reklama

Here's another Biedronka advert for you. Enjoy!

In case you don't know it:

przeglądać się - to look at yourself in the mirror. Similar words: oglądać (tv) - to watch (tv), wyglądać - to look, appear

wydawać się - to seem; wydaje mi się - it seems to me

Daj spokój! - literally 'give (me) peace', translates as 'Oh, come on!'

przecież - after all

i tak - anyway

liczy się - it counts

wewnątrz - inside, na zewnątrz - outside

... ... ...

Now watch it again. You should be able to understand more.

... ... ...

And below is a transcription. I hope you can fill the gaps correctly.

Co się tak przeglądasz?

Nie wiem, wydaje mi się, że ………………… jestem.

Nie, no dobrze ……… prezentujesz.

Daj spokój.

Przecież i tak liczy się …………… …………… wewnątrz.

Produkty z Biedronki polecają się ....... …………………….

An Englishman singing a Polish song

And now a song by the Polish band Kancelaria sang by a talented Englishman who claims he doesn't speak Polish...

Nie do wiary!



Can you do the same? :)

Kancelaria - Zabiorę cię właśnie tam (I'll take you just there)

Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam...
Gdzie jutra słodki smak
Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam
Gdzie słońce dla nas wschodzi
Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam,
Gdzie wolniej płynie czas
Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam
Gdzie szczęściu nic nie grozi

Dość mam już pustych dni
I świąt, których nie było
Między nami jest coś
Nie zaprzeczaj mi
Tyle mogę Ci dać
Solą życia jest miłość
Boisz się wielkich słów
To nie wstyd....

Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam...
Gdzie jutra słodki smak
Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam,
Gdzie słońce dla nas wschodzi
Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam
Gdzie wolniej płynie czas
Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam
Gdzie szczęściu nic nie grozi

Czekam na jeden gest
Wiara jest moją siłą
Jestem pewien, że wciąż
Potrzebujesz mnie
Dzień przemija za dniem
Znów nam siebie ubyło
Życie zbyt krótko trwa,
Więc zdecyduj się...

Dość mam już pustych dni
I świąt, których nie było
Między nami jest coś
Nie zaprzeczaj mi
Tyle mogę Ci dać
Solą życia jest miłość
Boisz się wielkich słów
To nie wstyd...

Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam...
Gdzie jutra słodki smak
Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam
Gdzie słońce dla nas wschodzi
Zabiorę Cię... właśnie tam,
Gdzie wolniej płynie czas
Zabiorę Cię... własnie tam
Gdzie szczęściu nic nie grozi

Gangi / Gangs

Biedronka (ladybird) is a supermarket chain in Poland. I have never worked for them but I am going to use their advertisement to teach you some Polish. This 'Gangi' advert is just perfect to begin with. The characters speak so slowly and clearly. And they use some slang words as well which gives you an additional insight into Polish culture.


Here it is:

Did you understand?


First of all you should know that 'sałata' is not only lettuce but is also a synonim for money. Also, 'proszek' refers to any kind of powder, including cocaine!
The most difficult thing here is 'bez namaczania'. 'Namoczyć' means to make something wet or to soak it. Although you would't think so, it is close to the adjective 'mokry', which means wet.
'bez namaczania' - without wetting


Now as you know the key words I would recommend watching 'Gangi' two or three times and trying to catch some words.

I've transcribed the advert for you so you can check if you were right. If you already know some vocabulary and basic grammar, you should be able to work it out. I've left some spaces to fill in.

Sałatę macie?
Mamy.
A …………….. proszek?
Dobry. I bez namaczania.
Produkty z Biedronki polecają się do ……….………….. roboty.


You should also know that the products (polecają) recommend (się) themselves.


Now, since you know what this is about, watch it again and repeat everything aloud, until you are able to pronounce it clearly and with proper intonation. Have fun! :)

Polish kindness

How to be polite in Polish?

PROSZĘ and DZIĘKUJĘ - these two words are more or less everything you need to be polite in Polish.

Tourist: Poproszę bilet do Warszawy. (A ticket to Warsaw, please.)
Cassier: Proszę! (Here you are.)
Tourist: Dziękuję! (Thank you!)

'English kindliness has a whole system of morality behind it, a system that makes "kindness" an entirely positive virtue. Polish kindness has the tiniest element of irony.'
Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation

Britons might think that Poles are arrogant for forgetting about all those "please" and "thank you" phrases but this is just the way we are brought up. To us your lengthy introductions to simple questions often seem to be pretentious, exaggerated and overpolite. In Poland uveruse of the word "proszę" arouses suspicion. If you make this mistake people will think you're being ironic or are somehow a little bit soft. On the other hand, it is difficult for Poles to come to terms with the British understanding of kindness. Initially it seems so artificial. It takes time to get used to this.

I will show you the differences on my own experience. I used to work at reception and among my duties was opening the garage door for our tenants. A simple thing, which doesn't involve any special commitment. One only has to press a button! What would Polish people say if they wanted to enter the garage?

I'll give you examples based on my own experience:

- Dzień dobry! Kowalski, (nazwa firmy), miejsce numer osiem. (Good morning + surname, company and bay number.)
or maybe
- Dzień dobry! Jan Kowalski, (nazwa firmy), miejsce numer osiem. Proszę otworzyć. (Open, please.)
or
- Dzień dobry! Kowalski, (nazwa firmy), miejsce numer osiem. Otworzy mi pani? (Will you open for me Mrs?)
or
- Dzień dobry! Kowalski, (nazwa firmy), miejsce numer osiem. Czy może pani otworzyć? (Can you open Mrs?)
Perhaps someone would even be so polite to say:
- Czy mogłaby pani otworzyć drzwi? (Could you open the door?)
But no one in Poland would say:
- Dzień dobry! Czy mogłaby pani otworzyć drzwi, proszę? (Could you, please, open the door?)
even worse:
- Zastanawiam się, czy mogłaby pani otworzyć mi drzwi. (I am wondering if you could open the door for me.) There is nothing to "wonder" about, and in fact, I have no choice but open it for you.
Not to mention:
You couldn't open the garage door, could you? We don't even have this kind of construction in our language.

At the beginning I was surprised by this politeness; it sounded so strange to me. But at the same time it felt so nice that people were so kind even regarding such an insignificant matter. I began to think that this is what we are lacking in Poland sometimes - I started thinking with time.

We do have some specific expressions similar to English ones but we keep them only for special occasions, such as asking for a big favour or trying to persuade someone to do something for us.

Here are some of them as proof they really do exist:

Czy mogę prosić o... ? (Can I request...)
Czy mogłaby pani... ? / Czy mógłby pan... ? (Could you ...)
Czy byłaby pani tak miła i ......... ? (Would you be so kind to ...)
Czy zechciałaby pani... ? (Would you be willing to ...) - this is quite advanced one.

Let's hope next time a Polish person forgets to add 'please' to the request, you will remember it's not necessarily an example of bad manners but just a matter of not being accustomed to British culture.

Dziękuję!

Cześć!

Cześć! 'cheshch' is just a simple "hi". But people often find it surprising when they discover that we also use it for good bye. Well, although it might seem odd, there is an explanation for it. "Cześć" also has other meanings: respect, worship. So saying it at the begining and at the end is just showing your respect for your interlocutor. Obviously, people don't remember about this meaning and use it only as a simple "hi" or "bye".

Cześć! Do następnego razu!

Double trouble

I often start teaching pronunciation using my name as an example as people, understandably, always misspronounce it at the beginning.

Marzanna is the Slavic goddes of winter and death but coincidentally it happens to be my name as well. It's got two difficulties in it:
1. rz - it sounds like 's' in treasure; please note that there is also 'ż' in Polish alphabet and they are both pronounced the same way which is usually transcribed as 'zh'.
2. nn - you have to pronounce the two of them separately (twice) as 'n-n'
Simple. Just say it: Mazhan-na

Other useful words containing 'nn' are:
Anna - not 'ana' like in English but doubled: 'an-na'
panna - unmaried woman, Miss, maiden; 'pan-na'
wanna - bath; 'van-na'
inny - different, other, another; 'een-neh'
codziennie - daily; 'tsodʒien-nie'
winny - guilty but also viny; 'veen-neh'

Words with 'ss':
ssak - mammal; 's-sak'
passa - a run of luck; 'pas-sa'

Words with 'dd':
oddać - to give back; 'od-dach/'
oddychać - to breath; 'od-deh-hach/'

Words with 'oo':
 zoo - pronounce as 'zo-o'
dookoła - round, around; 'do-okowa'

Remember, Poles usually pronounce doubled letters twice.
Exceptions: doubled letters in the end of the word, i.e. double 'i', wchich we pronounce as one sound.

Some of my students are passionate about languages and they like to know things in depth so here is a link to the International Phonetic Alphabet. Warning! I wouldn't go there if you don't have to. It might make you feel dizzy.

Verb endings

The main form of the verb is called infinitive. In Polish infinitive ends on –ć, rarely –c, i.e.: czytać – to read, pisać – to write - you cannot tell who does it.

In English you simply add subject before verb: I read, you read, she reads…

In Polish subject is hidden in the verb’s ending: (ja) czytam, (ty) czytasz, (on) czyta. Therefore you have to remember endings assigned to each person.

There are three* patterns of conjugation (verb ending changes) which differ in the endings of 1^st and 2^nd persons singular. Remember, vowel in the 2^nd person’s ending will appear in 3^rd person singular and 1^st and 2^nd persons plural.

I – i.e. pisać (-ę, -esz)	II – i.e. myśleć (-ę, -isz/-ysz)	III – i.e. czytać, rozumieć (-am, -asz) or (-em, - esz)
ja piszę	ja myślę	ja czytam, rozumiem
ty piszesz	ty myślisz	ty czytasz, rozumiesz
on/ona/ono pisze	on/ona/ono myśli	on czyta, rozumie
my piszemy	my myślimy	my czytamy, rozumiemy
wy piszecie	wy myślicie	wy czytacie, rozumiecie
oni/one piszą	oni/one myślą	oni czytają, rozumieją

 You might be wondering what 'j' does in the 3rd person plural sometimes. Just remember, in Polish there is no such a thing like aą, eą or oą so we put 'j' between them.

So once again, endings as simple as possible:

czytać – to read

person	stem	vowel	ending	explanations
ja	czyt	a	m
ty	czyt	a	sz
on/ona/ono	czyt	a	-
my	czyt	a	my
wy	czyt	a	cie
oni/one	czyt	a	ją	add ‘j’ to separate ‘a’ and ‘ą’

chodzić - to go

person	stem	vowel	ending	explanations
ja	chodz		ę
ty	chodz	i	sz	vowel in 2nd person appears
on/ona/ono	chodz	i	-	here
my	chodz	i	my	here
wy	chodz	i	cie	and here
oni/one	chodz		ą

*There are various classifications of conjugation patterns. I know it but you don't have to unless you love linguistics...