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Re: Polish group

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:25 pm
by aquarius
A good idea, a thread for all folks interested in the Polish language.

I picked up new words and they range from words that register as strictly Polish (like moczymorda, kochanie, chować, czołg, chwila), Polish with weak lookalikes in other languages, (wszystko), words I understand but I am not sure where they're coming from (lecz, chyba, cofnąć), words and constructions that may have corresponding words in Russian which I cannot recall (inhibition?),


The Polish word 'chwila' is derived from the Old High German word '(h)wīla', which is also the ancestor of today's Geman word 'Weile', and the English word 'while' has the same origin. Maybe the meaning of these words have changed slightly through the centuries. However, the pronounciation of Polish 'chwila' has conserved very well the Old High German '(h)wīla', whereas 'Weile' has undergone 2 vowel shifts and the loss of an initial consonant.

https://www.dwds.de/wb/Weile

At least according to Google translate, these three words still have overlapping meanings:

Er wartete eine Weile. --> Odczekał chwilę. --> He waited a while.

Re: Polish group

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:37 pm
by cjareck
aquarius wrote:Er wartete eine Weile. --> Odczekał chwilę. --> He waited a while.

I wouldn't use "odczekał" here. It is a specific verb which means that he told himself that he has to wait before doing something. Like throwing a grenade - you have to wait for a few seconds before throwing it. That is the meaning for "odczekał" - Odczekał 3 sekundy, a potem rzucił granat" (sorry for the military example - this is what I know the best ;) ). In the case of your examples, I would give "Poczekał" or just "czekał".

Re: Polish group

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:11 am
by Theodisce
aquarius wrote:
At least according to Google translate, these three words still have overlapping meanings:

Er wartete eine Weile. --> Odczekał chwilę. --> He waited a while.


odczekać = abwarten

Odczekał minutę, po czym wszedł do pokoju. Er wartete eine Minute ab, dann ging er ins Zimmer.

Re: Polish group

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:05 am
by chove
Today I found out about the Polish verbs of motion, they sound scary. But then almost everything about Polish sound scary, which is possibly why I still can't speak it very well :lol:

Re: Polish group

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 7:17 am
by cjareck
Don't be scared. We will help you. If you wish to sound like a native speaker, that might be a problem. But if you just want to communicate you may limit yourself to just a few.
For example dotrzeć (to get somewhere - complete form) and "udać się do" (incomplete form) - they doesn't specify means of transport like the verbs - pójść, dojść (this one have also a colloquial meaning "to have an orgasm", so be careful), pojechać, dojechać, dolecieć, polecieć, popłynąć and so on.

"Dotarłem do domu" instead of "Dojechałem do domu", "Dopłynąłem do domu" etc.
"Udałem się do domu" instead of "Pojechałem do domu, "Poszedłem do domu" etc.

Yes, they sound a little strange (especially the second one) and you will probably be corrected by the native speaker but they are not wrong. They are just seldom used because of their general meaning. But if you learn only them - first for completed activity and second for incomplete one, you will be able to say pretty much everything and then slowly learn specific verbs of motion and gradually substitute those two.

Re: Polish group

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:40 pm
by chove
cjareck wrote:Don't be scared. We will help you. If you wish to sound like a native speaker, that might be a problem. But if you just want to communicate you may limit yourself to just a few.


Thanks! It seems very complicated but hopefully I will get used to it in time!

Re: Polish group

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 11:49 pm
by księżycowy
I'm curious if anyone knows of an introduction to Polish pronunciation. Is there anything that is a "textbook" with audio that exists that does that? I'm thinking of something along the lines of Modern German Pronunciation or Pronounce it Perfectly in French.

Re: Polish group

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 11:59 pm
by Irusejka
księżycowy wrote:I'm curious if anyone knows of an introduction to Polish pronunciation. Is there anything that is a "textbook" with audio that exists that does that? I'm thinking of something along the lines of Modern German Pronunciation or Pronounce it Perfectly in French.

Hi! We've met on unilang, right?

Re: Polish group

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:04 am
by księżycowy
Possibly. I mean, i used to use that site, and still occasionally drop by. What was your username there, if you don't mind me asking?

Re: Polish group

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:06 am
by Irusejka
księżycowy wrote:Possibly. I mean, i used to use that site, and still occasionally drop by. What was your username there, if you don't mind me asking?

Try to guess first.