Bits of Polish » numerals

Even more counting – ordinal numbers

Alicja — Sat, 08 May 2010 15:23:11 +0000

After you’ve got familiar with the cardinal numbers, it’s time to learn some ordinal numbers. Note that Polish ordinal numbers behave pretty much like adjectives – it means that they have to be inflected so that they agree with the noun they are assigned to. If the noun is masculine, you use the masculine form of the numeral; if it’s feminine – the feminine form; if it’s neuter – the neuter form. If you’re familiar with how adjectives create these gender forms, you shouldn’t have problems with ordinal numbers, as they follow the same pattern. The masculine form is the basic one – the one listed in a dictionary. The feminine ending is –a, and the neuter one is –e. Look at these examples:

1st – m. pierwszy – f. pierwsza – n. pierwsze
3rd – m. trzeci – f. trzecia – n. trzecie
10th – m. dziesiąty – f. dziesiąta – n. dziesiąte

Here are the ordinal numbers in their basic forms:

1st – pierwszy
2nd – drugi
3rd – trzeci
4th – czwarty
5th – piąty
6th – szósty
7th – siódmy
8th – ósmy
9th – dziewiąty
10th – dziesiąty

11th – jedenasty
12th – dwunasty
13th – trzynasty
14th – czternasty
15th – piętnasty
16th – szesnasty
17th – siedemnasty
18th – osiemnasty
19th – dziewiętnasty
20th – dwudziesty

30th – trzydziesty
40th – czterdziesty
50th – pięćdziesiąty
60th – sześćdziesiąty
70th – siedemdziesiąty
80th – osiemdziesiąty
90th – dziewięćdziesiąty

100th – setny
200th – dwusetny
300th – trzechsetny
400th – czterechsetny
500th – pięćsetny
600th – sześćsetny
700th – siedemsetny
800th – osiemsetny
900th – dziewięćsetny
1000th – tysięczny

So far, so good. But what about some more complex numbers? Well, they’re created a bit differently than in English.

In numbers between 21st and 99th, both parts are ordinal numbers, unlike in English. For example:
21th: dwudziesty pierwszy (not *dwadzieścia pierwszy)
58th: pięćdziesiąty ósmy
99th: dziewięćdziesiąty dziewiąty
In numbers bigger than 100th, the hundreds and thousands are cardinal numbers, while the tens and ones are ordinal numbers. For example:
103: sto trzeci
274: dwieście siedemdziesiąty czwarty
1931: tysiąc dziewięćset trzydiesty pierwszy
8111: osiem tysięcy sto jedenasty

Counting to 1000

Alicja — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:30:14 +0000

We’ll have a look at cardinal numbers today, from 0 to 1000. I guess many of you will find the very look of the numerals intimidating, with all the dz and sz sounds, so there are audio files accompanying every section. You can listen and decide for yourself if they’re really so scary!

Let’s start with the basic numerals. Make sure you have them memorized before you move on:

0 zero
1 jeden
2 dwa
3 trzy
4 cztery
5 pięć
6 sześć
7 siedem
8 osiem
9 dziewięć
10 dziesięć

Moving on beyond ten, you’ll notice a pattern – the numerals follow a pattern that’s, if you ask me, easier than in English. No odd ones like eleven or twelve here! Notice, though, that it’s not fully predictable – in some cases, like czternaście and dziewiętnaście, just sticking –naście to the simple number won’t do, you’ll have to change it a little.

11 jedenaście
12 dwanaście
13 trzynaście
14 czternaście
15 piętnaście
16 szesnaście
17 siedemnaście
18 osiemnaście
19 dziewiętnaście

Let’s move on to the multiples of ten. Just don’t get discouraged by the consonant clusters – you’re not actually supposed to pronounce pięćdziesiąt and sześćdziesiąt as pięć-dziesiąt and sześć-dziesiąt. You can safely get rid of the ś, which I do in the recording. Some people do meticulously pronounce every sound, and some other people call it hypercorrection and consider it a grave mistake. Well, to each their own.

20 dwadzieścia
30 trzydzieści
40 czterdzieści
50 pięćdziesiąt
60 sześćdziesiąt
70 siedemdziesiąt
80 osiemdziesiąt
90 dziewięćdziesiąt

It’s not difficult either with whole hundreds. The only one completely new to you is sto. Again, they’re pronounced much easier than it seems!

100 sto
200 dwieście
300 trzysta
400 czterysta
500 pięćset
600 sześćset
700 siedemset
800 osiemset
900 dziewięćset
1000 tysiąc

Now that you know the numbers, you can also combine them. Here are some examples:

21 – dwadzieścia jeden
68 – sześćdziesiąt osiem
183 – sto osiemdziesiąt trzy
371 – trzysta siedemdziesiąt jeden
999 – dziewięćset dziewięćdziesiąt dziewięć

Write the date the Polish way

Alicja — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:06:08 +0000

Maybe saying that there are as many date-writing conventions as countries in the world is a bold exaggeration, but it’s not that far from the truth. The Polish way of writing dates isn’t very different from how it’s done in the English-speaking world, but you might want to pay attention to some important details – that is, if you really want to be fully correct. Not that all native speakers are, of course…

First of all, looking at Polish dates, you might have noticed the lonely r. that often appears after the year: 13.12.1987 r. It’s an abbreviation of the word rok, meaning year. If you’re reading this aloud, though, you have to put this word in the Genitive case: roku. And yeah, there’s a full stop after the r. Don’t omit it.

Is this r. compulsory? No, but it’s very common, and many people put it there out of habit.

Secondly, brush up on your Roman numerals, as they are often used to write the month. For example, the previous example can be written as 13 XII 1987 r. Again, this is mostly a matter of habit – I got used to it in school, for example – not something you have to do. This convention is very useful, though, since it obviates any ambiguity that can emerge if both the day and the month are written with Arabic numerals.

Thirdly, remember the punctuation – this is where many people make mistakes. You probably noticed the difference in the examples above. If you write everything with Arabic numerals, you put full stops after the day and the month. You don’t put them there if you’re using a Roman numeral (apart from the full stop after the r. of course).

Finally, if you’re familiar with the Polish months and their declination, you can write out the month. Why do I mention declination? Because you have to put the month in the Genitive case. As for the punctuation, you don’t use full stops here either. For example:

10 stycznia 1999 r.
10 I 1999 r.
10.1.1999 r.

1 października 2004 r.
1 X 2004 r.
1.10.2004 r.

Months of the year

Alicja — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:14:49 +0000

Polish is special among European languages in that it doesn’t use the Latinate names for months you’re already familiar with from English and many other languages, such as German, Spanish, Russian, etc. The Polish month names are, well, typically Polish – they originated from natural phenomenons. The word for July, for example – lipiec – comes from the name for the linden tree, lipa, as this is the period when lindens are in bloom.

So, since the Polish month names are so special, there’s no choice but to learn them! Here are they listed both in their basic, Nominative singular, form, as well as in the Locative singular, which is the case you use to talk about in which month something took place. At the same time you can get familiar with ordinal numbers from one to twelve.

styczeń – January
Styczeń to pierwszy miesiąc roku.
January is the first month of the year.
W styczniu często pada śnieg.
It often snows in January.

luty – February
Luty to drugi miesiąc roku.
February is the second month of the year.
W lutym jest bardzo zimno.
It’s very cold in February.

marzec – March
Marzec to trzeci miesiąc roku.
March is the third month of the year.
W marcu rozpoczyna się wiosna.
Spring begins in March.

kwiecień – April
Kwiecień to czwarty miesiąc roku.
April is the fourth month of the year.
W kwietniu kwitną kwiaty.
Flowers bloom in April.

maj – May
Maj to piąty miesiąc roku.
May is the fifth month of the year.
W maju jest Dzień Matki.
Mother’s Day is in May.

czerwiec – June
Czerwiec to szósty miesiąc roku.
June is the sixth month of the year.
W czerwcu rozpoczyna się lato.
Summer begins in June.

lipiec – July
Lipiec to siódmy miesiąc roku.
July is the seventh month of the year.
W lipcu uczniowie mają wakacje.
Pupils have holidays in July.

sierpień – August
Sierpień to ósmy miesiąc roku.
August is the eighth month of the year.
W sierpniu jest bardzo gorąco.
It’s very hot in August.

wrzesień – September
Wrzesień to dziewiąty miesiąc roku.
September is the ninth month of the year.
We wrześniu rozpoczyna się jesień.
Autumn begins in September.

październik – October
Październik to dziesiąty miesiąc roku.
October is the tenth month of the year.
W październiku liście spadają z drzew.
Leaves fall off trees in October.

listopad – November
Listopad to jedenasty miesiąc roku.
November is the eleventh month of the year.
W listopadzie często pada deszcz.
It often rains in November.

grudzień – December
Grudzień to dwunasty miesiąc roku.
December is the twelfth month of the year.
W grudniu rozpoczyna się zima.
Winter begins in December.