Mar 28
These are probably the most important verbs in any language: to be and to have, or, in Polish: być and mieć. It’s good to memorize their conjugation in the very beginning of your studies, especially since być is an irregular verb! Here they are, conjugated in the present tense:
| |
być
to be |
mieć
to have |
ja
I |
jestem |
mam |
| |
Jestem tutaj.
I’m here. |
Mam trzydzieści lat.
I’m thirty years old. |
ty
you, singular |
jesteś |
masz |
| |
Gdzie jesteś?
Where are you? |
Ile masz lat?
How old are you? |
on / ona / ono
he / she / it |
jest |
ma |
| |
Kim ona jest?
Who is she? |
On ma duży dom.
He has a big house. |
my
we |
jesteśmy |
mamy |
| |
Jesteśmy z Polski.
We are from Poland |
Mamy dużo do zrobienia.
We have a lot to do. |
wy
you, plural |
jesteście |
macie |
| |
Skąd jesteście?
Where are you from? |
Co macie w tej torbie?
What do you have in that bag? |
oni / one
they |
są |
mają |
| |
Gdzie oni są?
Where are they? |
One mają dużo planów.
They have a lot of plans. |
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Mar 01
Being able to state that things exist, and that they are located in various points in space, is one of the basic abilities you will want to acquire learning a language. English is pretty straightforward in this respect. “There’s a newspaper on the table,” you’d say, eager to translate it into Polish, and vaguely tense at the same time, since you already expect it can’t be easy. In fact, you would be really surprised if it was.
Well, it is. Kind of. Almost. There are only two things you have to remember about.
The verb
Where English uses the verb “to be” in such constructions, Polish prefers verbs that actually have a “real” meaning – ones that say something about the subject’s position in space. You can use “to be”, of course, but there will almost always be some alternative that actually sounds more natural. For example:
Na stole jest gazeta.
There is a newspaper on the table.
A grammatically correct, meaningful sentence, but it sounds like there’s something… weird with it.
Na stole leży gazeta.
There *lies* a newspaper on the table.
What a native speaker would say. read all »
Feb 27
The verb mieć – to have – has a number of idiomatic uses. Even a beginner should get familiar with at least some of them, since they’re very common, and, to make matters worse, they often don’t translate literally. Translating things literally can have disastrous consequences. Believe me, you don’t want to ask a Polish woman for her age by doing a word-to-word translation of the English “how old are you?”; in Polish the word for old – stary – feels much more negative than in English, and suggesting a woman she might be stara only works for you if you’re suicidal. Doing it the Polish way, you simply ask her how many years she has.
Even though you should know better than to ask about such matters in the first place.
1. mieć ochotę – to feel like
If you want to say you feel like doing something, you use the infinitive form of the verb:
Mam ochotę uczyć się gramatyki.
I feel like studying grammar.
Nie mam ochoty napić się wódki.
I don’t feel like drinking vodka.
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Feb 27
The verb mieć – to have – is more tricky than it seems. You probably already know that you have to inflect the noun following it – your direct object – since it would be a shame if the richness of Polish cases went to waste. The case used, however, will differ depending on whether your statement is a positive or a negative one.
If you do have something, you put the noun in the Accusative case. Now, remember that Polish inflects pretty much everything, so if you adorn your noun with any modifiers – adjectives, possesive pronouns or numerals, for example – you put them in the Accusative as well. Together with the noun, these extras constitute a noun phrase, and should be treated equally – in the fancy linguistic jargon it’s called agreement. Easy, right?
To jest książka.
This is a book. Nominative case, so that you can see the basic form of the noun.
Mam książkę.
I have a book. Accusative case.