piątek, 25 listopada 2011

To & Instrumental case

'To' can be confusing. At the beginning, like many foreign learners of Polish language, you might write:
'Kasia to jest fryzjerka' meaning: 'Kasia is a hairdresser',
whereas the correct sentence is: 'Kasia to fryzjerka'.

Similar examples:
Marek to mój starszy brat.
Polski to niełatwy język.
Ta kobieta to jego ukochana żona.
Wycieczka do Afryki to moje największe marzenie.

You can also express the same by using the Instrumental case (narzędnik). You need to know the endings:

Singular
Nouns:

Masc. (Animated)
Masc. (Inanimat.)
Fem.
Neut.
-em/-iem
-em/-iem
-em/-iem


examples: bratem, językiem, marzeniem, żoną
(we add -iem when a word ends with k or g; we add only -m in marzenie as there is already 'e' there)

Adjectives:

Masc. (A)
Masc. (I)
Fem.
Neut.
-ym/-im
-ym/-im
-ym/-im


examples: starszym, niełatwym, ukochaną, największym

So the above sentences might also look like this:
Marek jest moim starszym bratem.
Polski jest niełatwym językiem.
Ta kobieta jest jego ukochaną żoną.
Wycieczka do Afryki jest moim największym marzeniem.

Remember!
The Instrumental case is used to express (among other things):
Predicate nouns - nouns after linking verbs like być (be), zostać (become).

To return to 'to', it's easy to make a mistake as there are structures in Polish such as:

To jest moja mama. - This is my mom.
To jest sklep mojego dziadka. - This is my grandfather's shop.
To jest bardzo interesujące. - This is very interesting.

I always advise my students to translate 'to' as meaning 'equals' in sentences like
'Kasia to moja żona.' This way it makes sense: Kasia equals my wife.

It seems to me this is the best solution to this particular problem. And it seems to be working well.

to = equals

czwartek, 24 listopada 2011

Andrzejki w Glasgow

"Andrzejki - Saturday 26th November from 7.30pm at the Pearce Institute, 840 Govan Road, Glasgow, G51 3UU. Adults £2.50, children free. Delicious food and licensed bar along with some great music to dance to."

'St. Andrew's Day is the feast day of Saint Andrew. It is celebrated on 30 November.
Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, and St. Andrew's Day (Scottish Gaelic: Latha Naomh Anndra) is Scotland's official national day. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament designated St. Andrew's Day as an official bank holiday.'

Related traditions in Europe:

'In parts of Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Romania, superstitious belief exists that the night before St. Andrew's Day is specially suitable for magic that reveals a young woman's future husband or that binds a future husband to her. Many related customs exist: for example, the pouring of hot lead into water (in Poland, one usually pours hot wax from a candle through a key hole into cold water), divining the future husband's profession from the shape of the resulting piece (related divinations using molten metals are still popular in Germany on Hogmanay). In some areas in Austria, young women would drink wine and then perform a spell, called Andreasgebet (Saint Andrew's prayer), while nude and kicking a straw bed. This was supposed to magically attract the future husband. Yet another custom is to throw a clog over one's shoulder: if it lands pointing to the door, the woman will get married in the same year.'

source: Wikipedia

sobota, 19 listopada 2011

Pozdrowienia z Polski

Serdecznie pozdrawiam z Polski!
Jestem teraz w Warszawie. Straszny mróz, ale nie przeszkadza to w zwiedzaniu. Byłam dziś w Państwowym Muzeum Etnograficznym. Poszłam też pod Pomnik Nieznanego Żołnierza i do Ogrodu Saskiego.


Wycinanka łowicka

Pomnik Nieznanego Żołnierza

Ogród Saski


niedziela, 13 listopada 2011

Mission impossible


czyli - in other words / or / that is
wyżywić - to feed, subsist, keep oneself
za - in this case it means for, ie.: You can buy it for 2 pounds.
zł stands for złoty which means gold/golden, as you probably know it's Polish currency
miesięcznie - monthly (miesiąc - month)

An average Pole is a special agent fulfilling his mission impossible every month. What a skillful nation we are!

If you wanted to translate that sentence it would be: 'or in other words how to feed/maintain your family for 1000 zloty a month'. You would use the word 'your' to describe the family, whereas in Polish we don't do that as it is rather obvious that this is your family. Similarly, in the following sentences:
I've lost my ticket. - Zgubiłem bilet.
Wash your hands. - Umyj ręce.
Take off your coat. - Zdejmij płaszcz.
But we would say:
Kocham moją rodzinę.
Tęsknię za moim bratem.
Lubię mojego nauczyciela geografii.

It's quite complicated. I will explain it in depth in a future post.

wtorek, 8 listopada 2011

Tasting Poland

I would like to recommend Tasting Poland, a website I know of thanks to my student Karol.

As they say about themselves:
'Tasting Poland is a website with all you'd like to know about Polish food, plus all Polish recipes you'd ever like to try. You can also find interesting facts and news about Poland and Polish culture on Tasting Poland Blog.'
What I would really like to draw your attention to are tables of nearly 500 Polish verb conjugations which you can find there. It is just an incredible help! I've copied one of the tables to give you an idea of what it is about:
Click to see a bigger image.

It can be your database whenever you get stuck with a verb. Make use of it!

Dziękuję Karolu!