This blog has, for some time, concentrated on cultural issues. Therefore I thought it would be a good idea to focus on grammar for a change. Today we will look into the mystical entity called imiesłów – participle. If you asked me whether you absolutely needed to know this, I would say no. Moreover, I absolutely do not expect you to understand the concept of imiesłów just by reading this post. What I want to do, is to show you that there is a whole world of Polish grammar out there

It’s an exciting challenge to get there and get it. Some things I don’t think are even possible to be explained in English, as examples don’t really translate.

imiesłów (masc.; pl. imiesłowy) – participle – is a part of speech. Imiesłów is a form of a verb, that possesses qualities of an adjective OR an adverb.
Its counterpart in English is a participle, but unfortunately, participles in English don’t look anything special at all. Usually they look like pretty innocent verbs. And there are just two types of participles in English:
- present participle (ends with -ing, like talking)
- past participle (ends with -ed, like talked, with many irregulars, like done)

Of course things are much different in Polish, where verbs inflect like crazy. Imiesłowy have distinctive forms and further complications arise when we try to negate them.

There are several types of them, but in general, they can be divided into two major groups:
1. adjectival
2. adverbial

In both of those groups, there are several sub-groups. Because it simply wouldn’t be Polish, if things didn’t get all complicated.

But first things first.

Adjectival participles are declined just like adjectives, and must agree with a noun they modify in gender, number and case. Are you still with me?
Fortunately, adverbial participles are a little bit easier, because they don’t decline. Instead they kind of act like uninflected verbs.
And fortunately, both kinds of participles are mainly used in formal writing, or formal speech. In everyday, casual speech, you can get away with using normal conjugated verb forms instead.

But, let’s get back to our participles. The story doesn’t end with “adjectival” and “adverbial”. Oh no! Nothing is ever so simple in Polish.

We can further divide them according to aspect – imperfective and perfective, and action – active or passive.
And then there are such gems as “verbal adjectives of changed state” and “verbal adjectives of ability”.

In our next installment we will look at some very exciting (not!!!) examples.

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Well, haha indeed.
I don’t know what other languages Mike (he gave his name as Mike) has been learning so far, but it must have been either Hungarian or Finnish. Or perhaps Chinese. In comparison to those, Polish is indeed a piece of cake.
And how convenient for us that Mike decided to demonstrate just how easy Polish is by attempting to curse.
I will leave out the final k-expletive from the quote, but let’s take a look at the first three words he suggests as a suitable way to tell people off.
“Palic w piekle”… Hmmm.

It’s “palić” not “palic”, but that’s besides the point.
I think what he meant was to tell someone “burn in hell”, but since he has learned at least a couple of languages, I am sure he knows that direct translations of such phrases very often (if not always) make the speaker look like a total idiot.

Also, if he was directing this particular phrase at one person, I am sure he is aware that he should have said “Pal w piekle” (imperative, instead of infinitive), or if to more than one person – then “Palcie w piekle”.

But what exactly are we supposed to palić in hell? Cigarettes? Weed? Old newspapers? Not sure.
If Mike wanted us to physically burn in hell, I’m sure he knows (since Polish is so easy, as he says) that he should have used the reflexive form – palić się – to burn oneself. And then, of course, it would be:
“Pal się w piekle” to one person, or “palcie się w piekle” to more than one.
Of course anyone who’s spent more than just a couple of hours studying Polish knows how silly this sounds. Nobody in their right mind would use this phrase to tell someone off.
So, how would we do it?
There’s a variety of emotionally charged expressions to use in this situation. The mildest of the bunch would be “Odwal się”. Stick the k-expletive at the end, and there you go. Your message will definitely get through.

And Mike, it’s back to Professor Swan’s grammar book for you. Show off in the comments section again in a few months after you master a couple of chapters, OK?
Good luck!

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Podróże (travels, journeys, trips) is a plural noun. Singular – podróż (feminine).
And podróżować (to travel) is the verb we need here.
So, what do you call a person that travels? Podróżnik, but that implies someone who travels seeking excitement, adventure and really wild things in unexplored lands. Someone who just goes somewhere by PKP, that’s “podróżny”.

Though from what I’m seeing and hearing, all the hip and cool kids who like to travel use the word “wyprawa” these days. Literally it means an expedition, and personally I’m not fond of hearing that someone is planning a “wyprawa” to Kho Samui in Thailand to sit on the beach and drink cocktails with little paper umbrellas in them. In my eyes, that’s not “wyprawa”, but “wycieczka”.

Wycieczka (feminine, plural: wycieczki) can be any trip of any length, but generally (at least in my eyes) does not imply any hardships along the way the way “wyprawa” would. Or maybe I’m simply a snob when it comes to travel.

And then we have these two confusing verbs:

• zwiedzić (zwiedzać, imperfective), and
• odwiedzić (odwiedzać, imperfective).

odwiedzić – to visit.
You can “odwiedzić” your babcia in Pcim Dolny, or you can odwiedzić Tokyo or Paris.

And once you are in Tokyo or Paris, then what you want to do is “zwiedzać”.

zwiedzać – to engage in the activity of sightseeing, to see the sights

But zwiedzić (perfective) implies not just sightseeing, but actually the whole enchilada of traveling and seeing a place. For example:
Zwiedziłam Tajlandię.
That would suggest that I visited more than just Kho Samui and in fact traveled around and saw a bit more of the country.

Confusing? Yes, it is. Even for me. And frankly, instead of talking about it, I would much rather go somewhere. Preferably somewhere warm.

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In English it’s used for just about anything. You can use it when talking about food, as in “Do you like this potato salad?”
Or when talking about clothes – “I like this dress.”
Or when talking about people – “I like Anna, she’s so helpful.”

In English you just say “like” and that’s it. “To like” is a very handy verb.
But not so in Polish. Oh no! When translating from English to Polish “to like” can morph into a couple of different things.

Let’s go back to the potato salad for a second (what can I say, I’m hungry):

• Do you like this potato salad? – Smakuje ci ta sałatka ziemniaczana? (asking someone who just shoved a big forkful into his/her mouth).

See what happened?
Suddenly, “to like” became “smakować”, as in “it tastes good and I like it”.

Of course, you can also say:
Lubię sałatkę ziemniaczaną but this is a very general statement that you like potato salad in general. Whether the verb “to like” morphs into “smakować” or “lubić” when talking about food, you have to figure out based on the context.

Now, let’s go clothes shopping (which reminds me I still need to buy a new pair of gloves, my hands are purple from the cold):

• I like this hat. – Podoba mi się ta czapka. You’ve just tried it on and you’re going to buy it.

See what happened?
Suddenly, “to like” became “podobać się”, as in: you like something enough to buy it.
Or when commenting on someone else’s stuff:

• Podobają mi się twoje buty. – I like your shoes.

This “like” can also be used when talking about people. As in:

• Ona mi się podoba – I like her (the way she looks).

Again, whether “to like” can be translated into Polish as “lubić” or “podobać się”, you need to figure out from the context.

And then there’s this old-fashioned, garden-variety “lubić”:

• Lubię Anię, bo jest fajną dziewczyną. – I like Ania, because she’s a cool girl.
• Lubię muzykę i jazdę na nartach. – I like music and skiing.
• Lubię zapach świeżego chleba. – I like the smell of fresh bread.

And so on…

And that’s pretty much the deal with “to like” in Polish. Fun, isn’t it?

Post from: Polish Blog

In English, it’s simple, whether you like or don’t like someone (or something), the noun that follows the verb expressing your feeling doesn’t change.
I like winter. I hate winter.
“Winter” stays “winter” no matter what.

As you’ve probably figured out by now, this is not how it works in Polish. Well, nothing is ever simple and straightforward in Polish. It wouldn’t be Polish otherwise.

Remember when we talked about these two cases: dopełniacz (genitive) and biernik (accusative)? No? Then now it’s the time to look up those blog posts (I wrote about those cases in the past) and refresh your memory. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

OK, I see you’re back. Good! We can move on to the fun bits now.

So, this is how those winter (zima) sentences would look like in Polish.

• Lubię zimę. – I like winter
• Nienawidzę zimy. – I hate winter.

See what happened to “zima”? Yes… Your worst fears have been confirmed. We have two different cases here.

In “Lubię zimę” we have the accusative case – biernik, which answers to these questions: “kogo?” and “co?”.
“Lubię kogo” – when talking about people. Or “Lubię co” – when talking about everything else.

In “Nienawidzę zimy” we have the genitive case – dopełniacz, which answers to these questions: “kogo?” and “czego?”.
“Nienawidzę kogo” – when talking about people. Or “Nienawidzę czego” – when talking about everything else.

Yes, you are right – in both of these examples, the “kogo?” question when talking about humans is the same. But that doesn’t actually mean that the noun will stay the same. Not so! (And what did you think, huh?)

For example:

• Lubię Kasię (or Anię, if you want to talk about me behind my back) – I like Kasia (Ania).

and

• Nienawidzę Kasi (Ani) – I hate Kasia (Ania).

Luckily, this is only the issue with feminine humans. Masculine humans stay the same.

• Lubię Pawła – I like Paweł.
• Nienawidzę Pawła – I hate Paweł (Paweł, it’s nothing personal, it’s just an example, OK?)

Incidentally, when talking about space aliens in Polish, treat them as humans (at least grammatically), even though they are very clearly not.

So, basically, this is the drill:
If you have positive feelings towards someone or something, use biernik (accusative).
If you have negative feelings towards someone or something, it’s time to use dopełniacz (genitive).

Hey! What happened to you? Wake up! Wake up!!!

Post from: Polish Blog

Now, I don’t know about lovely, but they sure are picturesque. Even if you’re not a fan of cold weather (like me), you have to admit that śnieg (snow) looks very pretty. It covers all those ugly, unsightly things and makes even the dirtiest city appear fresh and clean. Of course, that lasts for only about five minutes until the snow turns grey and yellow. And slushy. Yeah, nie znoszę zimy! – I can’t stand winter.

But what was it we were talking about? Ah yes, pretty and picturesque.

There are people out there who don’t mind bundling up and going out with a camera to take photos, even in the dead of winter. One such person is the lovely young lady who runs the City Toruń Daily Photo blog.

Kasia kocha (loves) Toruń, it’s her home town, and being the tough Polish woman that she is, she odważnie (bravely) went out in the cold and took some wintry shots.

So, go take a look at them while the snow is still biały i puszysty (white and fluffy)!

And since we are talking a lot about disliking and hating winter, I thought I might as well include those verbs for your learning pleasure:

• lubić – to like
• nie lubić – to dislike
• kochać – to love
• nienawidzieć – to hate
• nie znosić, nie cierpieć – can’t stand (something), to resent, to dislike, but more powerful than “nie lubić”.

We’ll talk about nouns (yes, it’s declension time again – how fun!) that follow these verbs in the next post.

Post from: Polish Blog