tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14560385659072146362024-03-19T10:48:29.143+00:00Learn Polish with Sam and BiluśWe're learning Polish - we love learning Polish! - and if we can share some good stuff with you along the way, then, ahem, zajebiście! We're not beginners, by the way, something like Intermediate/advanced, however for sure we'll go back to basics from time to time for our own sieve-like memory's sake...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-9733892789094383772011-11-04T22:30:00.000+00:002011-11-04T22:30:19.317+00:00Accusative and InstrumentalIt took me more than a few days but I finally managed to put together some notes on the use of the <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yFqODrARDil8UuzjFg0mWqwQ2d73t8TnY5GIFtLRrLU/edit">Accusative and Instrumental</a>, which will hopefully be helpful, although I must say that when it comes to cases it is perhaps wise to just practice, guess, make mistakes and then remember those mistakes. My advice is to try to remember some of the most common patterns / structures that go with each case and for the rest of it just go along as you learn. Some verbs and prepositions you will use very often so try to focus on those and worry not about the others :)Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-27525402283686919792011-05-11T15:40:00.004+01:002011-05-11T15:55:44.433+01:00Polish consonants<div style="text-align: justify;">Yes, those sounds that twist our tongues even when we no longer have major issues with grammar and manage to make ourselves understood. Most foreigners never get pronunciation right and they can be spotted immediatly, but that's part of the fun when it comes to learning Polish (or any other language, for that matter, but it may be that I am highly subjective, I love all my accents). So here's our attempt at making these very unfriendly sounds a bit more friendlier: <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1lnY22pyPskNH8RNp6G_3eULHUChnhtT7i0-pl146JvQ">Polish Consonants</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anna, we do hope this helps :) Enjoy!</div>Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-22229731289662119792010-04-13T15:43:00.001+01:002010-04-13T15:45:50.752+01:00Possessive pronouns - Zaimki posesywne<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align:justify"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">In response to Jim's question about the possessive pronouns in Polish: </span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align:justify"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Pronoun</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">swój, swoja, swoje // swoi, swoje</span></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">indicates possession and can be interchanged with the possessive</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">mój, moja, moje // moi, moje</span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">. However, there are certain contexts in which this exchange is either gramatically incorrect or it just doesn’t sound right (I know, lots of things</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">don’t sound right</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">in Polish, and there’s no rule telling us how to avoid the embarrassment of not sounding right...). Oh well, one thing’s sure: people will understand what you say even if you mix these pronouns up once in a while – and they will be kind enough to correct you without making you feel odd for not catching the subtleties of the language. But that’s just not good enough, is it? So here’s my best attempt at making things clearer – I have my reasons (<i>mam swoje powody</i>) to believe that this is one of the trickiest parts of Polish grammar:</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"> </span></span><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"><a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc84ff72_32d74rxsgp"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:blue">usage of possessive pronouns</span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span">.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><o:p> </o:p></p>Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-57692909414986706062009-11-09T23:45:00.004+00:002009-11-09T23:55:56.171+00:00Notes on the GenitiveThis is in response to a comment Jim posted on this blog asking about the endings for masculine nouns in Genitive. Although there are no rules telling us how to determine the right ending, I tried to put together <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc84ff72_23ccjqpmg4">a list</a> and hopefully it makes things a bit clearer.<div><br /></div>Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-72129377412301542312009-07-20T21:57:00.001+01:002009-07-20T21:59:07.604+01:00The Infinitive (Bezokolicznik)The infinitive is the basic form of the verb, the one you'll find in dictionaries and that you'll easily spot due to the ending ć : czytać (to read), pisać (to write), kupić (to buy) (most of the times. You probably guessed, there are exceptions even to this elementary rule*). We'll need the infinitive to form the future, but also for some specific constructions with modal verbs or some particular nouns - since it's very easy to learn & use, you'll soon notice how these constructions enrich your vocabulary :)<br /><br />* and here are the exceptions: verbs ending in c, like<br />móc (can): mogę, możesz, może<br />piec (to bake): piekę, pieczesz, piecze<br />biec (to run): biegnę, biegniesz, biegnie<br />strzec (to guard): strzegę, strzeżesz, streże<br /><br /><a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc84ff72_12dqws2sd8">Here</a> are the most frequent constructions requiring the infinitive.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-14335942807828968892009-07-09T11:03:00.004+01:002009-07-09T13:10:20.578+01:00Vote for us!Hello to our faithful followers - it'd be cudownie if you were to go to <a href="http://www.lexiophiles.com/language-blog-toplist/top-100-language-blogs-2009-nominated-blogs-language-teaching">this link</a> and vote for us (we'll have to let them know that they've missed Sam off the name - especially as she is doing ALL of the good work here now!).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lexiophiles.com/language-blog-toplist/top-100-language-blogs-2009-voting-language-teaching"> <img style="margin-right: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-top: 15px; "src="http://www.lexiophiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/vote-this-blog-lb09.gif"/></aUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-34448332359806966372009-07-07T11:35:00.005+01:002009-07-07T13:02:46.371+01:00Polish verbs (czasowniki) - the basics<div style="text-align: justify;">We've dealt with the verb before - by now, if you've been following this blog, you know quite a few things about <a href="http://polish-bilus.blogspot.com/2008/03/aspects-of-verbs-imperfective-and.html">aspect</a>, you can tell the difference between <a href="http://polish-bilus.blogspot.com/search/label/verb">perfective and imperfective verbs </a>and you're familiar with the conjugation patterns in Polish. That should be enough for you to be able to build correct sentences, and even though it's possible that you'll sometimes mix & match those perfective and imperfective forms, you'll still make yourself understood.<br />However, there's still a lot of things to find out about the verb, way too many rules and exceptions and some more exceptions, but we'll take a look at all of them, one at a time.<br />First of all, we need to define the categories we'll be working with, meaning that we need to know what's really important in learning the verb:<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Aspect (aspekt)</span><br /></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>there are two classes of verbs in Polish: perfective (<span style="font-weight: bold;">czasowniki dokonane</span>) and imperfective (<span style="font-weight: bold;">czasowniki niedokonane</span>). The first ones are for actions that are completed or will be completed, whereas the others are taking place in some particular moment, without indication of completion. </li><li>for example, the pair <span style="font-style: italic;">pić</span> - <span style="font-style: italic;">wypić</span> (to drink):</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">On pije piwo</span></span> means that he drinks beer (we have no indication of completion) or that he is drinking beer as we speak.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">On wypije piwo</span> means that he will drink all his beer (thus the action being completed at a certain point in the future).<br /></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>perfective verbs only occur in the <span style="font-weight: bold;">past</span> or in the <span style="font-weight: bold;">future</span> - the action was either completed earlier, or will be completed. However, a perfective verb in the future looks like an imperfective verb in the present - the pattern of conjugation is the same. Check out at the above mentioned <span style="font-style: italic;">pić</span> - <span style="font-style: italic;">wypić</span> - you conjugate them in the same way, but they express different times. So try to remember it this way: with perfective verbs, what looks (grammatically) as the present is actually an expression of the future.<br /></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. Tense</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></span></span>As far<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>as<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>tense is concerned, you'll probably be relieved to find out there's just three tenses in Polish: past, present and future. But there's several ways to express them.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">PAST</span> - both perfective and imperfective verbs occur in the past<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">completed action</span>: perfective verb<br />- <span style="font-weight: bold;">action in progress in the past, not completed</span>: imperfective verb<br />To form the past of both perfective and imperfective vebs, we need the <span style="font-weight: bold;">participle</span> and specific <span style="font-weight: bold;">endings</span> for each person, singular and plural.<br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-weight: bold;">PRESENT</span> - only imperfective verbs occur in the present, there's four big groups of verbs according to the pattern of conjugation (some linguists argue there's actually just three groups, but when we take a look at the present tense I'll explain my choice and why I stand by those people who argue there's four groups)<br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">FUTURE</span> </span>- both perfective and imperfective verbs occur in the future<br />- we need a <span style="font-weight: bold;">perfective verb</span> for a <span style="font-weight: bold;">completed action</span> (remember it looks like the present of imperfective verbs)<br />- we'll express an action that <span style="font-weight: bold;">will be in progress</span> at some point in the future with an <span style="font-weight: bold;">imperfective verb</span> (to do this, we'll need the verb <span style="font-style: italic;">to be </span>in the future tense and the infinitive or the participle)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. Mode</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>- there's three modes<span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span>in Polish: <span style="font-weight: bold;">indicative</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">conditional</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">imperative</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Person</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. Number</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. Gender</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>- these three categories are important while conjugating verbs because, as you might expect, the question of gender is quite delicate not only when counting nouns or maing the agreement with the adjective, but also when you have to be specific about the person<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>undertaking the action<span style="font-weight: bold;"> - all information about person(s) and gender is contained in the verb</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Voice</span><br />- this is simple. There's a <span style="font-weight: bold;">passive voice</span> and an <span style="font-weight: bold;">active voice</span>. Of course, you have to know when to usethe perfective and when the imperfective, but for now no need to enlarge upon this. <span style="font-style: italic;">Pogadamy o tym </span><i>pó</i><i>żniej :)</i><br /></div>Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-6199586987781544292009-07-03T07:45:00.003+01:002009-07-03T09:40:14.830+01:00Zaimki (Pronouns)<div style="text-align: justify;">As compared to the numeral or the verb, the pronoun is quite friendly and easy to remember. Once you've mastered the cases, you should have no problem learning the pronouns. Well, almost no problem, since it's still Polish we're talking about and of course there's some exceptions on the way.<br />Let's have a quick look at the types of pronouns in Polish<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Personal Pronouns</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>singular: <span style="font-style: italic;">ja, ty, on, ona, ono</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>plural: <span style="font-style: italic;">my, wy, oni </span>(all male & mixed male-female groups)<span style="font-style: italic;">, one </span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> Note that <span style="font-style: italic;">ja, ty, my, wy</span> are usually not expressed as subjects, unless emphasized. Thus, we will say:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Czytamy</span>, instead of <span style="font-style: italic;">My czytamy</span>, because the verb gives us full information about the person.<br /></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>You must remember the <span style="font-weight: bold;">polite, formal address</span> as well, because this is the form you'll be using when talking to Polish people, at least for the beginning. If you use <span style="font-style: italic;">ty</span> when talking to someone you've just met, you might be considered rude. However, you'll switch from formal to informal rather quickly, most of the times after a "ceremonial" caled <span style="font-style: italic;">bruderszaft</span>, which involves drinking some vodka and kissing each other on the cheeks. The act of changing from the polite form to a more friendly "you" must be acknowledged by both parties. Also, when talking to someone older, they must be the ones to suggest giving up formal address. </li><li>singular: <span style="font-style: italic;">Pan</span> (masc), <span style="font-style: italic;">Pani</span> (fem)</li><li>plural: <span style="font-style: italic;">Panowie</span> (masc), <span style="font-style: italic;">Panie</span> (fem), <span style="font-style: italic;">Panstwo</span> (masc&fem)</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Possessive Pronouns</span><br /></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>they take a full set of agreeing endings and act like adjectives - they have the same type of declension<span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. Demonstrative and Relative Pronouns</span><br /></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Polish language does not have the category of "article", therefore you will understand from the context if a certain noun is definite or indefinite. Demonstrative and relative pronouns have full case-and-number declension</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Reflexive pronoun</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>it means "oneself", "each other", "one another" and it has no Nominative case form</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. Distributive pronouns</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>they are matched by different pronouns in the plural and in expressing negation, but they all function like adjectives and have full case-and-number declension.</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">You'll probably have to learn the personal pronouns as they are - and worry not if you don't remember all forms, once you start speaking they will all come naturally, and you'll end up wondering why you spent all that time and energy trying to learn something that was so obvious. For the rest of the pronouns, all it takes is good command of the cases.<br />Here's a <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc84ff72_10gd5vv2w5">chart</a> with declension patterns for the above-mentioned pronouns.<br /></div>Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-65802592939157759142009-07-02T16:05:00.000+01:002009-07-02T16:07:14.140+01:00Liczebniki parts 4 - 7We didn't give up. We're still learning Polish and we still love it.<br />The thing is, we've both been so busy, that we hardly had any time for this blog. But we're back now, ready to do some catching up :)<br />We still had to go through those strange numerals, next we'll take a look at the pronoun, which is really not that big of a deal, and then the real adventure starts: the verb.<br />So let's do some more counting - these numerals are not very popular in Polish, you won't meet them very often - and learn some really useful stuff, like expressing time, dates and years.<br /><a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc84ff72_8cgvkzbgs">Fractional and Indefinite Numerals.</a>Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-59181205153277094272009-03-19T17:20:00.004+00:002009-03-19T17:40:04.162+00:00Liczebniki (part 2 & 3)Today we'll take a look at ordinal and collective numerals.<br /><br /><a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc84ff72_5tc5qb226">Ordinal numerals</a> are simple and user-friendly. They act like adjectives, so once you should have no problem, once you've learnt the main form of the numeral.<br /><a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc84ff72_4wpwq4gfr">Collective numerals</a> are a bit more complicated. When it comes to them, there's a few things you have to remember:<br />a) form<br />b) the three categories of nouns you count using these numerals<br />c) declension<br />d) agreement with the noun (i.e. the case they require for the noun that follows them).<br />They may not be pretty, but the good news is that once you've figured out the mechanism, you won't have any problems, not to mention that you won't actually be using these numerals very often.Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-13695729037965892172009-03-05T00:38:00.006+00:002009-03-05T02:10:41.157+00:00Notes on the use of InstrumentalThis post is also a response to the comment on <a href="http://polish-bilus.blogspot.com/2008/01/instrumental-case.html">this post</a>.<br />After consulting the books, here's my attempt at making things easier to understand.<br />First of all, I totally agree with Biluś - with those endings (<span style="font-style: italic;">końcowki</span>) you don't have much of a choice, with or without further explanations about grammar. You learn them by heart, and after a while you'll forget all about the ordeal you've gone through. In this way, you will be able to recognize the Instrumental case, and all the others, just by taking a look at the ending. However, if you want to build up your own sentences and are not sure when and how to use it, maybe this will help:<br /><br />One of the main constructions requiring <span style="font-weight: bold;">Narzędnik </span>(Instrumental) has the following structure:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Kto jest <span style="font-weight: bold;">kim<br /></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Co jest <span style="font-weight: bold;">czym<br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">(Subject) jest (predicative)</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br />In Polish, the subject (<span style="font-style: italic;">kto / co</span>) is in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mianownik </span>(Nominative), whereas the predicative (<span style="font-style: italic;">kim / czym</span>) is in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Narzędnik</span>. Let's take a look at your examples:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Marek i Piotr są studentami Politechniki</span>.<br /><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Marek i Piotr</span>: Subject (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Mianownik </span>/ Nominative)</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">studentami</span>: predicative (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Narzędnik </span>/ Instrumental) - this gives us further information on the subject of the sentence, and it follows the pattern <span style="font-weight: bold;">(subject) są (predicative)</span></li></ul>Let's take another example:<br /><ul style="font-style: italic;"><li>On jest Francuzem / lekarzem / studentem.</li></ul>It is easier if you ask the questions:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Kto to jest?</span> and your answer will be "On" (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Mianownik</span>)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Kim on jest?</span> - this gives you further information about profession, nationality etc. and your answer will be a noun in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Narzędnik</span>.<br />It may be that the noun is determined by an adjective - like in your example: <span style="font-style: italic;">Oni są dobrymi przyjaciółmi</span>. In such a situation, the adjective will also be in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Narzędnik</span>. You have to pay attention to the fact that even if the cases are different, there is still agreement in gender and number. You can't say, for instance, *<span style="font-style: italic;">Oni są (</span>plural<span style="font-style: italic;">) dobrym przyjacielem (</span>singular<span style="font-style: italic;">)</span>.<br /><br />Finally, some tips and tricks:<br /><ol><li>look at the verb. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Narzędnik </span>mostly occurs after these verbs: <span style="font-style: italic;">być, bywać, zostać, stawać / stać się, okazać się, zrobić się</span>.</li><li>look at the subject of the sentence and then at the nouns or nouns + adjectives giving you further information about the subject. They will most likely be in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Narzędnik</span>. Note here that if you have just an adjective, without a noun, describing the subject, then you have full agreement - gender, number and case. There is a difference between <span style="font-style: italic;">Marek jest zdolny</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Marek jest zdolnym studentem</span>. And don't forget to ask the questions. In the first situation, the question will be <span style="font-style: italic;">Jaki jest Marek</span>?, whereas in the second situation, the question will be <span style="font-style: italic;">Kim jest Marek</span>? (<span style="font-style: italic;">On jest studentem</span> - this is the essential information, and the adjective describing "<span style="font-style: italic;">studentem</span>" will obviously be in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Narzędnik</span>).</li></ol>Hopefully, this will clear things up a bit (and remember that Instrumental has many other uses and specific prepositions. If you need any help with those, let us know).<br />Powodzenia!Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-25976675791934638162009-03-04T08:56:00.002+00:002009-03-04T09:17:08.251+00:00Learning the casesThis post is in response to anonymous' comment on <a href="http://polish-bilus.blogspot.com/2008/01/instrumental-case.html">this post</a>. I'm assuming my own lack of a grammar foundation here - I was never taught the mechanics of grammar and, in order to learn Polish, I had to learn what the different parts of speech actually do - even down to adverb/adjective... so, I sympathise, anonymous!<div><br /></div><div>My esteemed przyjaciółka, Sam, will be able to help explain more than I can about why the instrumental is used in the particular example you give: 'Marek i Piotr są studentami Politechniki. Są dobrymi przyjaciólmi, chóć kazdy jest inny'</div><div><br /></div><div>However, this was my strategy for being able to 'spot the case' in an exam I sat last year - it's a very old technique of learning: by rote - but it worked like a dream, so I pass it on in the hope that it might be useful to you, too. </div><div><br /></div><div>Print the following documents, which are (arguably) the most important cases and their endings: </div><div><ul><li><a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ak63pc4ckp4_655dwdm65dr">accusative, genitive, instrumental table</a></li><li><a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ak63pc4ckp4_656cmbxrpgh">blank accusative, genitive, instrumental table</a></li></ul></div><div>Look at the completed table and test your memory of it - then try to write the endings out from memory in the blank tables. I guarantee, you make yourself do this over the course of a week, you'll remember. Good luck!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-85670213850198616372009-02-03T10:08:00.004+00:002009-02-03T10:17:32.547+00:00Odmiana nazw wlasnychWe still have a long way ahead of us with those numerals (working on them), but in the meantime here's part of a paper I had to write in my kultura jezyka course, about <a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc84ff72_3dj8v4cfg">declension of names</a>.Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-1380156262106006802009-01-09T23:01:00.004+00:002012-01-15T19:22:04.624+00:00Liczebniki (part 1)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">Cześć Wam, i Wszystkiego Najlepszego w Nowym Roku!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">We’re back in business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, and this means, among other things which are not related to Polish in any way, learning the numeral. In my opinion this is the toughest and crappiest part of Poish grammar, not to mention I find it somewhat senseless – it’s so complicated that even Polish people have problems getting the right forms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">So let’s try to shed some light on those numerals (liczebniki).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">First of all, here’s a list of all types of numerals, which we’ll be taking one at a time, trying to clear things up in terms of declension and syntax.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">1. Cardinal num. = liczebniki główne (jeden, piętnaście, trzysta, miliard)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">2. Ordinal num. = liczebniki porządkowe (czwarty, dwunasty)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">3. Collective num. = liczebniki zbiorowe (czworo, jedenaścioro)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">4. Indefinite num. = liczebniki nieokreślone (dużo, kilkanaście)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">5. Fractional num. = liczebniki ułamkowe (pół, trzy cywarte)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">6. Multiplicative num. = liczebniki mnożne (podwójny, poczwóry)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">7. Reified num. = wielorakie liczebniki (dwojaki, pięcioraki).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">So let’s start with <a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc84ff72_2f573swdz">liczebniki główne.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">P.S. it may look scary, although I’ve tried to keep it simple. It takes some patience and some practice, nothing more (ok, it took me about one year, a job in a bar, three grammar exams and one summer course to figure out the numeral, but that’s just me, I’ve never been good with numbers). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-44680875612034768022008-12-14T11:37:00.002+00:002008-12-14T11:40:21.336+00:00Case Names: English and Polish<div>After Sam's helpful post on those elusive double-duty prepositions, I realised I needed to refresh myself on the actual names of the cases in English (you can do a search of this blog for functions of the cases):</div><div><ol><li>Nominative (mianownik)</li><li>Genitive (dopełniacz)</li><li>Dative (celownik)</li><li>Accusative (biernik)</li><li>Instrumental (narzędnik)</li><li>Locative (miejscownik)</li><li>Vocative (wołacz)</li></ol></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-48077869686576186022008-12-14T01:34:00.004+00:002008-12-14T01:40:48.028+00:00Double Duty Prepositions<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: courier new;font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;" >Once we have the cases figured out and we know what prepositions to use for each one of them, it's time to take another step and discover those prepositions which work with more than just one case, based on context and meaning. </span><br /><br /></span> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" ><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);">DOUBLE DUTY PREPOSITIONS</span></span></b><br /><br />między</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> (between, among)<br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Włóż zeszyt </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >między książki</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Biernik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li><li><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >Między zeszytami</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> leżą książki. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Narzędnik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li></ul><span id="writely-comment-id-dc84ff72" class="writely-comment" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 215);font-size:85%;" >In the first example, the preposition is connected to a movement verb in the imperative, whereas in the second example we have a static verb.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Note also the expression "między nami" (between us) - Narzędnik<br /></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >na</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Idziemy </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >na egzamin</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Biernik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Grzyby są </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >na stole</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Miejscownik)</span></li></ul><span id="writely-comment-id-dc84ff72" class="writely-comment" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 215);font-size:85%;" >If the preposition occurs after a movement verb, indicating the destination / purpose, then we use Biernik. If we want to indicate location, connected to a static verb, we use Miejscownik. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >nad</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Jadę </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >nad morze</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Biernik</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Jestem </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >nad morzem</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Miejscownik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li></ul><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >o</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Poproszę </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >o rachunek</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> / Pytam </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >o zdanie</span><span style="font-size:85%;">.</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" > (Biernik)<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Mówiłam </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >o tym zdaniu</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Miejscownik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li></ul><span id="writely-comment-id-dc84ff72" class="writely-comment" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 215);font-size:85%;" >When meaning "for", "concerning", the preposition "o" is followed by Biernik, when meaning "about", it is followed by Miejscownik.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >po</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Idę </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >po wodę</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Biernik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Jestem </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >po pracy</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Miejscownik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li></ul><span id="writely-comment-id-dc84ff72" class="writely-comment" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 215);font-size:85%;" >The preposition "po" is usually followed by Biernik when connected to a verb of movement in order to express purpose. Otherwise, it is followed by Miejscownik. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >w</span><ul><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Pojechaliśmy </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >w Tatry</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Biernik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Byliśmy </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >w Tatrach</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Miejscownik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li></ul><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >za</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Pojechaliśmy </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >za miasto</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Biernik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">Byliśmy </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >za miastem</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);font-size:85%;" >(Narzędnik)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></li></ul><span id="writely-comment-id-dc84ff72" class="writely-comment" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 215);font-size:85%;" >Once again, the verb decides the preposition and the case, thus we use Biernik for movement, and Ms. or N. for static vebs.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span>Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-14363430501638913302008-12-13T00:36:00.003+00:002008-12-13T00:52:57.703+00:00Witam :)<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Thanks for the introduction, Biluś. The pleasure is all mine - when it comes to learning Polish, I'm like a kid in a toy store, I just can't seem to get enough of it. Give me some grammar, some words that are impossible to pronounce, add some exceptions to that and a few idioms and you've made my day. I'll be more than happy to share the stuff I discover, and I'm really excited to be contributing to this blog, which has been one of the most useful tools I've used in the process of polishing my Polish.<br />So I say we get down to business, jak najszybciej :)<br />Sam</span><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></span></div>Ruxandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09805085594902255017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-89951341328522084362008-12-12T11:04:00.002+00:002008-12-12T11:06:28.673+00:00New News!My last post about hibernation is updated now - the blog awakes because (I'm pleased and honoured to report) of Sam, who will now take up the slack here and be posting about her own adventures in both Poland and po polsku. Introduce yourself, Sam...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-68861092963034226352008-11-06T11:53:00.002+00:002008-11-06T11:58:26.568+00:00hibernacji - hibernationWell, I'm having to face realities - I've just started a doctorate and won't find any time for either studying Polish or posting to this blog for the forseeable future. I'll leave the blog posts up, they may be useful to somebody sometime. Thanks to everybody who's visited :-)<div><br /></div><div>I will be posting to my <a href="http://longwaytotipperary.blogspot.com/">research blog</a>, which you can follow if it takes your fancy! </div><div><br /></div><div>Pozdram, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Biluś</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-31944153507893111772008-05-07T13:49:00.004+01:002008-11-13T07:12:53.307+00:00Verbs of MotionThese form a separate system which you just have to learn. However, it does rest on just two verbs: <span style="font-weight: bold;">iść </span>(to go on foot) and <span style="font-weight: bold;">jechać </span>(to move by means of transportation) - so there's no general movement, in Polish you either go on foot or by a vehicle. This table expresses the main (first person) aspects for the past, present and future:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifckpjFyqDCA6c9qIOHIfpQQoKl661LKgQdgDfppoAtPXucvU_OQ1myM1hCCWe1CvRPrKcCm8zeExJbX7fshFx78F9YCNcelZ7Jx4uWqjWbaL5Jn9JFVofnOemHMjPS11VN0hHrFx9l9la/s1600-h/verbs_of_motion.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifckpjFyqDCA6c9qIOHIfpQQoKl661LKgQdgDfppoAtPXucvU_OQ1myM1hCCWe1CvRPrKcCm8zeExJbX7fshFx78F9YCNcelZ7Jx4uWqjWbaL5Jn9JFVofnOemHMjPS11VN0hHrFx9l9la/s400/verbs_of_motion.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197618447429139442" border="0" /></a><br />For waaay more detail look at the resources in the Uczmy Się Polskiego (links) at right of here:<br /><ul><li>pp 80-81 Polish Grammar in a Nutshell</li><li>pp 291-293 A Grammar of Contemporary Polish</li><li>pp 108-110 A Concise Polish Grammar<br /></li></ul>If you can't find the right pages in the pdf files, just press ctrl-f and search for 'verbs of motion'.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-50570867042900476702008-05-04T17:31:00.007+01:002008-06-18T14:28:04.684+01:00Polish Alphabet - Polski AlfabetLooking around the Interweb for some helpful stuff for a Polish exam (an exam in Polish! my first - I feel validated!), I came across a really excellent resource for anybody interested in Polish and Poland, <a href="http://www.polishforums.com/">PolishForums.com</a>. It has a tagline '<span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:8;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:8;" >Poland for Expats and Tourists',</span></span> which sounds awful, but in fact it's quite brilliant and some very fine people have kindly spent time writing informatively about Polish culture, geography, romance, history, film, literature - and of course you can just join in and ask a question if you don't find what you want here. My interest was language and there's lots here; I skipped lightly over 'sexual phrases in Polish' (!) and found a wonderful resource at Practice Your Polish/Polish Lessons Units - a whole series of videos introducing the Polish alphabet and pronunciation (the one I include here, Polish Lessons Unit 1, is also on YouTube):<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6s-vMd_pBks&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6s-vMd_pBks&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><div style="text-align: right;">Great vid, Janusz!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-270838784920131262008-03-24T09:29:00.003+00:002008-03-24T09:35:18.667+00:005. Verbs which have the imperfective form onlyHere's the final posting on aspects of verbs referred to in the blog posting below (Aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective) from Sunday, 23 March 2008. So, you don't need to learn a second verb form - just learn that these DON'T have a perfective form: <a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ak63pc4ckp4_398g973vcdt">Verbs which have the imperfective form only</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-24599127301337906302008-03-24T09:16:00.001+00:002008-03-24T09:35:05.369+00:004. Perfective Verbs with two different stemsHere's the fourth of five aspect tables referred to in the blog posting below (Aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective) from Sunday, 23 March 2008: <a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ak63pc4ckp4_396t5ktqsgc">Perfective Verbs with two different stems</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-6448402108797905002008-03-24T09:10:00.002+00:002008-03-24T09:34:50.014+00:003. Perfective Verbs formed by a stem alternation and a change of the stem suffix<p>Number three of five aspect tables referred to in the blog posting below (Aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective) from Sunday, 23 March 2008: <a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ak63pc4ckp4_394xmccw3hk">Perfective Verbs formed by a stem alternation and a change of the stem suffix</a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1456038565907214636.post-4298882741559853612008-03-24T08:54:00.003+00:002008-03-24T09:34:34.770+00:002. Perfective Verbs formed by a change of the stem suffixPost number two of five aspect tables referred to in the blog posting below (Aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective) from Sunday, 23 March 2008: <a href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ak63pc4ckp4_392hkrq2whq">Perfective Verbs formed by a change of the stem suffix</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0