Bits of Polish

As we saw in the previous post, small words can be problematic and ambiguous – and at the same time interesting! Today we’ll have a look at another one – czy. It has more than one use, and because it fulfills important functions, it’s very common and you can see it in different contexts. Let’s start with what I think is the easiest – and most imporant – one.

Yes/no questions

Transforming statement into yes/no questions is a piece of cake. You take your sentence, stick a czy in the beginning, a question mark in the end and you’re done. No troublesome changes in the word order, weird auxilary verbs and other nightmares of English learners!

Ta książka jest bardzo droga.
This book is very expensive.

Czy ta książka jest bardzo droga?
Is this book very expensive?

Anna lubi wszystkie koty.
Anna likes all cats.

Czy Anna lubi wszystkie koty?
Does Anna like all cats?

Twoje dzieci jedzą dużo czekolady.
Your children eat a lot of chocolate.

Czy twoje dzieci jedzą dużo czekolady?
Do your children eat a lot of chocolate?

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(as well as one H)

The six interrogative adverbs who, what, when, where, why and how are crucial for asking questions. Their Polish equivalents might not be easy to learn since, unlike in English, they don’t even start with the same letter – but on the other hand, they’re very common, so you shouldn’t have problems getting used to them. They’re small, useful words, so go through this list and check if you know them all:

Kto – Who?
Kto to jest?
Who’s this?
Kto to powiedział?
Who said this?
Kto napisał ten artykuł?
Who wrote this article?

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