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Introduction to Polish:
Lesson 5

By Linas

You know chcę and then you know pracuję and studiuję with ę for the first person changing to e to the third. Here is another uję of the same kind for you:

Polish for I thank is dziękuję.

How would you say:

He thanks.

Answer: On dziękuje.
Not correct. Please try again.

Why don’t you (informally to a child) thank?

Answer: Dlaczego ty nie dziękujesz?
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Or you could simply say:

I thank.

Answer: Ja dziękuję.
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Standing by itself, dziękuję (or I thank) is simply the Polish word for thanks. Pretty logical, isn’t it?

Polish for very is bardzo.

To say thank you very much you can say I thank very and that also is thanks much. How would you say that:

thank you very much

Answer: dziękuję bardzo
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As we are talking about bardzo, let’s learn how to say well:

Polish for well is dobrze.

How could you say:

very well, thanks

Answer: bardzo dobrze, dziękuję
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If you wanted to say that you do something very well, this bardzo dobrze would act just like to/tego, etc. and move to the middle of the sentence. Try:

I speak Polish very well.

Answer: Ja mówię bardzo dobrze po polsku.
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This bardzo dobrze could also be a good answer to the question how are you?. Oh, right, we can’t ask that question. Let’s learn to ask it then!

Do you remember how to say I have it:

I have it.

Answer: Ja to mam.
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The word mam is an m-word so it simply loses its m to get to the pani/ona/pan/on form. How would you say to a woman formally:

You have it.

Answer: Pani to ma.
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And for the ty form we add a sz:

You (informal) have it.

Answer: Ty to masz.
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Good. We are going to need two more words:

Polish for how is jak.

Remember that robię for I do is an ę-disappearing word. Try:

How are you (informal) doing it?

Answer: Jak ty to robisz?
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The other word we need is self:

Polish for self is się.

If I (ja) am saying it, it could mean myself, if it’s ty - yourself, if on/ona - himself/herself and so on. It is also worth noting that się like to/tego or teraz, tutaj and all of these short words likes to go in the middle.

How would you say informally (you are saying: how you self have?:

How are you having yourself?

Answer: Jak ty się masz?
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Now as I forgot to mention: ty is redundant and can be left out. That is because we can tell by the ending (sz) that you are talking about ty. Same for ja. You usually leave it out in colloquial Polish but I wanted to get a little bit formal and help you remember these ja and ty so we wouldn’t leave it out. However, you can and do leave it out in practice a lot of times. Let’s repeat the last phrase with leaving ty out:

How are you having yourself?

Answer: Jak się masz?
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Yeah! Ever heard that phrase? That’s the question for how are you? - jak się masz.

For some reason how are you having yourself? is the same as how are you? ... that’s how Polish is.

Answer that question once again:

Very well, thanks.

Answer: Bardzo dobrze, dziękuję.
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Alright then. Here is the last word that we will be learning.

Polish for honour is cześć.

A bit of a tongue twister but why is that so important? Dlatego że you say honour - cześć both when saying hi or bye in Polish.

A point is to be made that both those cześć and jak się masz are informal. However, they work pretty well.

Polish for and is i

Say:

hi and bye!

Answer: cześć i cześć!
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Alright then. We are done with this course. Well done!

We have the tools needed to simulate a conversation in Polish to show off some of what we have learnt. This is not fully it, however, here you go.

Imagine that you are walking home from work on a street in Poland and you meet a friend that you haven’t met for ages. Both of you are not native Polish speakers but you address him in Polish and converse informally with him:

Hi, how are you?

Answer: Cześć, jak się masz?
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Very well, thank you very much. What are you doing here?

Answer: Bardzo dobrze, dziękuję bardzo. Co ty tutaj robisz?
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I work here. What do you do now?

Answer: Ja tutaj pracuję. Co ty teraz robisz?
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I study. You now speak Polish very well.

Answer: Ja studiuję. Ty teraz bardzo dobrze mówisz po polsku.
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Thanks. I understand well and I like it.

Answer: Dziękuję. Tak, ja dobrze rozumiem i ja to lubię.
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However your friend remembers that he has to go to the bank quick and doesn’t really have time for conversation now so he explains it to you, hands you his card so that you can call him later and says:

Do you know where the bank is?

Answer: Ty wiesz gdzie jest bank?
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Yes, the bank is there! See you.

Answer: Tak, bank jest tam! Cześć.
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Bye!

Answer: Cześć!
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