Posts from August 2009

Future Tense of Perfective and Imperfective Verbs

Posted by Anna No Comments
Aug 14 2009

One of you (once again, I can always count on you, my fab readers!) wanted to know more about this whole verb aspect issue. More specifically, how to tell whether a verb is perfective or imperfective by looking at its future tense form.

And finally, this is one thing that is actually very simple, easy and straightforward in Polish. Really!

Let’s use these two verbs that you should already know from the previous post about aspect: pomóc and pomagać (to help).

Which one of those is perfective? If you know how to create future tense forms of Polish verbs, finding out the aspect is a piece of cake.

Take a look at all the future tense forms of “pomóc”:

  • ja (I) – pomogę
  • ty (you, singular) – pomożesz
  • on, ona, ono (he, she, it) – pomoże
  • my (we) – pomożemy
  • wy (you, plural) – pomożecie
  • oni, one (they, masculine, feminine) – pomogą

and now let’s see what happens with “pomagać”:

  • ja (I) – będę pomagać (or for feminine “I” – będę pomagała; masculine – będę pomagał)
  • ty (you, singular) – będziesz pomagać (or for feminine you – będziesz pomagała; masculine – będziesz pomagał)
  • on, ona, ono (he, she, it) – będzie pomagać (or for she – będzie pomagała, he – będzie pomagał, it – będzie pomagało)
  • my (we) – będziemy pomagać (or for feminine we – będziemy pomagały; masculine or mixed gender – będziemy pomagali)
  • wy (you, plural) – będziecie pomagać (or for feminine you plural – będziecie pomagały; masculine or mixed gender – będziecie pomagali)
  • oni, one (they, masculine, feminine) – będą pomagać (or for feminine they – będą pomagały; masculine or mixed gender – będą pomagali)

See the difference? The perfective form is just a single word without any “będę” in front of it. And that’s exactly how you can tell if a verb is perfective or not. All the double bits with “będę/będziesz, etc” are imperfective verbs.

I told you it would be easy. What may not be easy is how to create all those future tense forms. But that’s a whole another story for another blog post.

Required Reading – Joanna Chmielewska

Posted by Anna 10 Comments
Aug 10 2009

Since I’ve boring you to tears with all sorts of useless stuff recently (yeah, yeah, don’t deny it, I know I have) I think we should talk about something light and fun and maybe even interesting today. Namely – reading. Reading in Polish, of course.

“What?” I hear you say, “reading in Polish is supposed to be fun?”

Sure it is. But as in all other languages, it depends on what you read. And I can pretty much guarantee you, that if you read something by one of my favorite Polish authors, it will be fun. That’s the upside, all her books are more or less fun and light and entertaining. So, what’s the downside? As far as I know, none of her stuff has been translated into English yet. Yeah, that’s a pretty serious downside. But guess what? That means you can really push yourself and try reading one of her novels in Polish.

Oh wait, I haven’t even told you her name yet. Joanna Chmielewska. But that’s just her pen name, her real name is Irena Kühn. But whatever… The name is not important here.

What is important is the fact that she’s a hugely popular Polish writer. And she’s a woman. A very funny woman with a talent to tell a funny story.

I admit, her books may not be for everyone. If high-class literature is what you’re after, then definitely, skip Chmielewska and try some fat, classic, sleep-inducing volumes by Reymont, or some other long-dead dude. But if you want to be amused and entertained and have something to read on the beach on during a long flight, then Chmielewska is definitely your woman. Providing, of course, that you are brave enough to try reading a book in Polish.

To date, she wrote more than 50 books: crime fiction, young adult fiction and non-fiction. If you asked me to compare her style to a well known writer from the English speaking world, just to give you an idea of what she’s all about, hmmm… not sure who I should pick. Imagine Bill Bryson or Terry Pratchett writing crime/detective stories. In Polish. Yeah, not exactly, but something like that.

If I had to pick my favorite Chmielewska book, I’d have to go back to her “classic” novels published before 1990. In 1990 her “Dzikie białko” was released and at least to me, that marked the end of “classic” Chmielewska and the beginning of her more modern, post-communist incarnation.

So yes, if I had to pick my favorites, it would be classics like “Wszystko czerwone” (All Red) from 1974, or “Lesio” (1973), and most definitely “Całe zdanie nieboszczyka” (Dead Man’s Tale, 1972).
Yeah, that one. You have no idea how many times I’ve read that book. And it’s a bleeping shame that none of them have been translated into English.

I find it hard to believe that there isn’t a market for Chmielewska stories in the English-speaking world. I mean, after all, all sorts of foreign literature of questionable standards (if you can call them standards at all) get published in English. So why not Chmielewska, huh?

Is her literary agent asleep at the desk (or under the desk, perhaps)? Or too afraid to pursue an international deal? Oh c’mon people, don’t be such wusses! Get out and do your job, for crying out loud! Ms. Chmielewska is over 75 years old. The woman won’t live forever. And it’ll be a total shame if none of her books get published in English during her lifetime.

Polski on the internet – guest post by Barb

Posted by Anna 3 Comments
Aug 7 2009

A couple of posts ago I asked you about your Polish language adventures on the internet, remember?

And our fabulous guest blogger – Barbara from Canada prepared this piece about her experiences w polskiej sieci.

Polski on the internet – by Barbara from Canada

As most of you know, there are very few good sites dedicated to teaching or supporting the study of the Polish language and its culture (except this one, of course).

For the grammar purists in the room, Learn Polish with Sam and Biluś is a pretty good site. The authors are not native Poles (but are serious students) and present the material in an organized and detailed manner. One of the things I like about the site is that the authors often share useful charts and exhibits from their own studies. One of the drawbacks is that the site is not regularly updated. (Anna’s comment – not regularly updated – that’s a big, fat understatement – this year they’ve only posted 10 entries so far.)

Another site which I use extensively is www.polishforums.com. The grammar resources are pretty thin, so I use it mainly for general knowledge about Poland. The forum contains a lot of information, but “filters” are required. One of its obvious shortcomings is political correctness (poprawność polityczna). Be aware, some topics contain very raw emotions and comments.

Although it is easier to be introduced to Polish culture with the assistance of a native or an experienced ex-pat, there comes a point when you just want to venture out without the help of a guide. To be confused, puzzled and a little disoriented all on your own. To not have someone apply context to behaviours and intentions. Short of a trip abroad (which is coming later this month), I wanted to get a feel for the people directly. So, I started frequenting various Polish websites and forums.

In the on-line women’s magazine (magazyn dla kobiet) www.kafeteria.pl, I found short articles (artykuły) about daily life in Poland. Although the articles were sometimes interesting, I learned MUCH, MUCH more from the comments (komentarze). It didn’t take long before I wandered over to the “forums” section and that’s where things got REALLY interesting. What I mean to say is, I would read a certain topic and all its related posts, then I would sit back in my chair and mutter “really!?!”. I also learned a lot of words and expressions that couldn’t be found in dictionaries. :)

Probably the oddest site I frequent on a regular basis is a Polish website dedicated to the learning of English. Seems like a strange place to learn Polish, right? I help by correcting people’s writing, answering questions, basically assisting where I can. What do I get out of it? I have carved out a little niche for myself and made a few friends. I get to practice writing in Polish. I am also working up the nerve to post a sample of my speech, which I hope will be analyzed objectively. I don’t want to suffer the platitudes of overly-polite Poles that say “jak na cudzoziemkę, mówi Pani bardzo dobrze po polsku.” AAACK! I have been a rather difficult task master on the English forum and I’m honest in my feedback of others. In return, I hope to receive the same objective appraisal. A few Poles may hazard a couple of honest comments. Problem is, I’ve found that Poles are just too damn polite and wouldn’t want to risk hurting my feelings. :)

Anna’s comment: Poles polite? It’s because you’re a foreigner! You should see how we just love to trample the feelings of our fellow countrymen!

Jaka to melodia? – Name That Tune po polsku

Posted by Anna No Comments
Aug 4 2009

Do you ever have those days when you wake up with a song already stuck in your head? And you have no idea how it got there? And then you just hum that song all day long and can’t get rid of it? Regardless of whether you like it or not?

I’m having this kind of day today. And the song that’s stuck in my head, and I have no clue how on earth I managed to come up with it in the first place, is a really old (or at least it seems old) Polish number that, among many other things, mentions “złe czarne fortepiany” (bad black grandpianos), and something about “blues” and “pogoda dla bogaczy“.

Lately I’ve been having quite a few days like that. And I’m surprising even myself with the sheer volume of old Polish hits that I somehow manage to recall. Under normal circumstances this would be really scary, but I think I have a pretty good idea who’s (or rather – what’s) to blame for all this. And that’s “Jaka to melodia?” (Name that tune), which is wildly popular in Poland.

I wouldn’t last half a round on this show. These people are truly obsessed. They can identify almost any random song from just a couple of random notes. The only time I can get anywhere while playing along is if one of the categories is either “Queen” or “Eric Clapton” (which I guess shows my age again).

Why this game show is so popular I have no idea. Maybe people enjoy watching geeks trying to guess song titles from just one single note (po jednej)? Nah, I don’t think so. I think the fun is in listening to sometimes good, and sometimes frighteningly bad, renditions of old and new hits. The host of the show – Robert Janowski is a decent singer too and actually I like when he grabs a mic and belts out a tune or two. And the guy playing the piano is kinda cute, but that’s besides the point. We are talking strictly about music here, OK?

And so I’m pretty sure I must have heard the “złe czarne fortepiany nie chcą spać” song on “Jaka to melodia?”. Because how else would I even know that such a song at all existed? Until “Jaka to melodia?” I’ve never even heard of Halina Frąckowiak. And here I am now, stubbornly humming one of her greatest hits. And all because of this Robert Janowski fella and his singing girls…

OK, I just had to look it up. The title of the song is “Tin Pan Alley” and it was released in 1984 (or at least that’s what it says on the internet).

And here it is in its original Halina Frąckowiak’s version. Z napisami (with Polish lyrics) even:

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