Some notes on the use of personal pronouns:

On and ona, meaning he and she respectively, can refer to all kinds of nouns, not only people. It depends on the gender of the noun: masculine nouns are referred to as on, and feminine nouns as ona. Ono refers to neuter nouns. It’s the same principle as in, for example, German: every noun has a gender (even though there’s nothing inherent in a potato that makes it masculine) and has to be referred to with the appropriate personal pronun.

Oni (they) refers to a group of people including at least one male. If the group consists of a dozen women and one man, you’ll still have to use oni to talk about them. Which sucks from the feminist point of view.

One (they) refers either to a group of people consisting exclusively of females, or to a group of inanimate beings. Which sucks even more when you realize women are put in the same category as things and stuff.

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.

The verb leżeć – to lie – is used to talk about objects that are flat and, well, can lie. For example:

Na podłodze lężą książki.
There are books on the floor.

W szufladzie leży złoty pierścionek.
There is a golden ring in the drawer.

W pudełku leży nowy procesor.
There is a new processor in the box.

W szafie leżą stare szmaty.
There are old rags in the wardrobe.

Another useful verb is stać – to stand. You can use it to talk about things that are more vertical:

W lodówce stoi butelka mleka.
There’s a bottle of milk in the fridge.

Na stole stoi komputer.
There’s a computer on the table.

W szafie stoją buty.
There are shoes in the wardrobe.

Na podłodze stoją trzy walizki.
There are three suitcases on the floor.

The word order

One thing you’ve surely noticed by now is the different word order: where the English sentence starts with “there is” and ends with a prepositional phrase – stating where our subject is located – the Polish one opens with a prepositional phrase and puts the subject in the end.

But, you might think, isn’t the Polish word order flexible? Isn’t it, like, the FIRST thing anyone learns, that Polish enables you to toss words around like kittens do with balls of yarn? Well, yes. In fact, the sentence Gazeta leży na stole is absolutely correct. There’s only one small caveat. It doesn’t imply exactly the same thing.

What it really means is: The newspaper is on the table.

See? By moving the subject to the beginning of the sentence, we did the equivalent of sticking a definite article to it. Polish doesn’t have articles, so it uses this maneuver instead. Compare:

Na stole leży gazeta.
There’s a newspaper on the table.
I look at the table and describe it – oh, there’s some newspaper on it! I haven’t seen it before, and I don’t really care about it.

Gazeta leży na stole.
The newspaper is on the table.
I know what newspaper we’re talking about – the one I’ve been searching for all day.

So, if you’re talking about where something familiar is located – something that you would precede with “the” in English – you put it in the beginning of the sentence. And if you’re just looking around and noticing various things lying around, you move them to the end. Once you get used to it, it makes sense. Actually, I could go on and on about how it makes sense by using words like Theme, Rheme and topicalization, but I’ll keep that piece of grammar porn to myself. You don’t want to know it anyway.

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.

If you feel like having something – a noun – you add the preposition na and put the noun in the Accusative case:

 

Mam ochotę na wódkę.

I feel like having some vodka.

Nie mam ochoty na papierosa.

I don’t feel like having a cigarette.

2. mieć sens – to make sense

Bez ciebie moje życie nie ma sensu.

Without you my life doesn’t make sense.

Twoje rozwiązanie nie ma sensu.

Your solution doesn’t make sense.

3. mieć na imię – to be called (first name); mieć na nazwisko – surname

Jak masz na imię?

What’s your first name?

Jak masz na nazwisko?

What’s your surname?

Mam na imię Piotr, a na nazwisko Kowalski.

My first name is Piotr, and my surname Kowalski.

4. mieć coś na oku – to have your eye on something

Mam na oku kilka ładnych biustonoszy, ale nie wiem, który wybrać.

I have my eye on a few pretty bras, but I don’t know which to choose.

Słyszałem, że chcesz kupić mieszkanie – masz już coś na oku?

I’ve heard you want to buy an apartment – do you already have your eye on something?

5. mieć coś na myśli - to have something in mind, to mean

Co masz na myśli?

What do you mean?

Gdy mówię o leniwych ludziach, mam na myśli was.

When I speak of lazy people, I have you in mind.

6. mieć coś na sobie – to be wearing something

Mam na sobie czarną kurtkę.

I’m wearing a black jacket.

Kobieta miała na sobie płaszcz z norek.

The woman was wearing a mink coat.

7. mieć X lat / miesięcy – to be X years / months old

Moja córka ma dwa lata i pięć miesięcy.

My daughter is two years and five months old.

Ten budynek ma prawie dwieście lat.

This building is almost two hundred years old.

8. mieć znaczenie – to be of importance, to matter

Ten problem ma dla nas duże znaczenie.

This problem is of great importance for us.

Nie ma znaczenia czy jesteś bogaty, czy biedny.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or poor.

9. mieć rację – to be right

Wiem, że mam rację.

I know I’m right.

Uważamy, że nie masz racji.

We think that you’re not right.

10. mieć nadzieję – to hope

Note that there is no verb equivalent to the English ‘to hope’, so you always have to use this construction. It has two variants. It can be followed by a subordinate clause:

 

Mam nadzieję, że przestanie padać.

I hope that it will stop raining.

Mam nadzieję, że polska gramatyka okaże się łatwa.

I hope that the Polish grammar will turn out easy.

Mamy nadzieję, że woda nie była zatruta.

We hope that the water wasn’t poisoned.

 

Or you can say that you hope for something. Then you add the preposition na, followed by the noun in the Accusative case:

 

Mamy nadzieję na deszcz.

We hope for rain.

Mam nadzieję na dobry wynik.

I hope for a good result.

Mamy nadzieję na szczęśliwe zakończenie.

We hope for a happy end.

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.

To jest twoja nowa, interesująca książka.

This is your new, interesting book. Nominative case.

Mam twoją nową, interesującą książkę.

I have your new, interesting book. Accusative case.

Note how the modifiers – even the prounoun twoja – have changed. It’s not every day you encounter a language which does that to pronouns.

Nie mam książki.

I don’t have a book. Genitive case.

Nie mam twojej nowej, interesującej książki.

I don’t have your new, interesting book. Genitive case.

Piszę książkę.

I’m writing a book.

Nie piszę książki.

I’m not writing a book.

Lubię tę stronę.

I like this site.

Nie lubię tej strony.

I don’t like this site.

Czytam ten nowy, gruby, polski słownik.

I’m reading this new, thick Polish dictionary.

Nie czytam tego nowego, grubego, polskiego słownika.

I’m not reading this new, thick Polish dictionary.

Lubimy polską gramatykę i ortografię.

We like Polish grammar and orthography.

Nie lubimy polskiej gramatyki i ortografii.

We don’t like Polish grammar and orthography.