Monthly Archives: August 2008

Actually & Eventually

August 29, 2008 – 11:41 am

Interesting things can happen when your car breaks down. For one, you have to ride the bus, which in itself is not that interesting, I admit. But staring at people and listening to their conversations is always fun. And sometimes, when you are sandwiched between two individuals talking loudly on their cell phones, you don’t [...]

By Anna | Posted in Vocabulary | Comments (6)

Polish Pessimism

August 27, 2008 – 5:36 pm

A friend sent me this link and asked me what I thought about it. Go ahead, read it, it’s in English.
So, apparently, Poles are pessimistic about the future. And how exactly is that news? Poles think that the country is heading in the wrong direction. Yeah, what else is new?
Complaining about the future of the [...]

By Anna | Posted in Culture | Comments (5)

Where is Stanisławów?

August 25, 2008 – 11:29 am

One of our readers, Debbie, had a question about a town, which she thought might have been in Galicja (“Galicia” in English). And because this is a blog about all things Polish, we’re talking here about the Polish Galicia, not the one in Spain.
Debbie wasn’t sure of the spelling, but luckily, I knew exactly what [...]

By Anna | Posted in Geography, History | Comments (6)

This and That

August 21, 2008 – 11:58 am

The distinction between “this” and “that” is more or less clear in English. Or at least I’ve always thought so. But as one of our readers has pointed out, while “this” is easier to grasp when translated into a foreign language, things can get really goofy with “that”.
Fortunately, I can assure you that people who [...]

By Anna | Posted in Grammar | Comments (7)

Genitive Case, part 3

August 18, 2008 – 11:53 am

I just realized that we’ve never really finished talking about the genitive case (dopełniacz in Polish). My bad. We had too much fun with all the other things, lazy males and beetle tongue-twisters, and we totally forgot about the declensions. So, let’s get it done and over with this genitive.
I told you that in Polish [...]

By Anna | Posted in Grammar | Comments (3)

Required Reading - Jan Brzechwa

August 15, 2008 – 6:05 pm

Today is a public holiday in Poland, the Feast of the Assumption, which is an important Catholic celebration, I presume. Though when I asked my friend this morning about the reason for a day off, she mumbled something about the Battle of Warsaw instead. That battle, also known as the Miracle at the Vistula, [...]

By Anna | Posted in Culture, History | Comments (1)

Lazy Male?

August 12, 2008 – 12:21 pm

After all the grammar stuff last week, I don’t know about you, but I think we‘re long overdue for something more entertaining. Yes, I know that grammar is essential when learning a new language properly, though personally, I’ve never been the kind of student who sits down and dutifully memorizes different verb endings. In whatever [...]

By Anna | Posted in Vocabulary | Comments (7)

More Pronoun Fun: Ci, Te

August 8, 2008 – 1:08 pm

Ok, so today I’m supposed to tell you how to figure out the gender when it comes to plural nouns and adjectives. But first, we need to talk just a tiny little but about those plural nouns and their genders.
You see, those plural nouns can be confusing. They are even to me. And I should [...]

By Anna | Posted in Grammar | Comments (6)

Ten Ta To

August 6, 2008 – 11:09 am

In my last post I quoted a Japanese lady who is learning Polish in Tokyo. She kindly gave us several examples of why she likes Poland so much. And to show off her Polish grammar, she even used a variety of adjective-noun combinations. I don’t know about you, but if it was me speaking in [...]

By Anna | Posted in Grammar | Comments (5)

From Chopin to Szarlotka

August 1, 2008 – 12:22 pm

I’m always very surprised when I hear that people with absolutely no prior connection to Poland want to learn Polish. It’s one thing when someone has Polish roots, or a Polish name, or a polish spouse, or plans to move there. But it’s completely another when someone wants to learn Polish “just because.” Just because [...]

By Anna | Posted in Culture | Comments (4)