Polish Blog

Basic word order in Polish is SVO, however, as it is a morpheme rich language, it is possible to move words around in the sentence, and to drop the subject, object or even sometimes verb, if they are obvious from context.

These sentences mean more or less the same (“Kasia has a cat”), but different shades of meaning are emphasized by selecting different word orders:

Kasia ma kota – Kasia has a cat (when spoken with a different sentence tempo and accentuation, this sentence can be understood as mildly offensive idiom “Kasia is crazy” or “Kasia is a loony”).

Kasia kota ma – Kasia does have (own) a cat (and has not borrowed it)

Kota ma Kasia – The/a cat is owned by Kasia

Ma Kasia kota – Kasia really does have a cat 
Kota Kasia ma – It is just the cat that Kasia really has
Ma kota Kasia – The relationship of Kasia to the cat is one of ownership (and not temporary possession)
However, only the first three examples sound natural in Polish, and others should be used for special emphasis only, if at all.

If a question mark is added to the end of those sentences they will all mean “does Kasia have a cat?”; an optional ‘czy’ could be added to the beginning (but native speakers do not always use it).

If apparent from context, the subject, object or even the verb, can be dropped:

Ma kota – can be used if it is obvious who is the person talked about
Ma – short answer for “Czy Kasia ma kota?” (as in “Yes, she does”)
Kasia – answer for “Kto ma kota?” (as in “Kasia does”)
Kota – answer for “Co ma Kasia?” (as in “The cat”)
Kasia ma – (as in “Kasia does [have one]“) answer for “Kto z naszych znajomych ma kota?” (“Who among people we know has a cat?”)
Note the interrogative particle “czy”, which is used to start a yes/no question. The particle is not obligatory, and sometimes rising intonation is the only signal of the interrogative character of the sentence: “Kasia ma kota?”.

There is a tendency in Polish to drop the subject rather than the object as it is uncommon to know the object but not the subject. If the question were “Kto ma kota?” (Who has a/the cat?), the answer should be “Kasia” alone, without a verb.

In particular, “ja” (I) and “ty” (you, singular), and their plural equivalents “my” (we) and “wy” (you, plural), are almost always dropped.

Word order in Polish tends to reflect the increasing informational prominence of the elements in a sentence as one proceeds from left to right. Items placed at sentence-end typically carry logical stress and respond to the implicit question statement answers. For example, in Janusz kocha Marię. Janusz-nom. loves Maria-Acc. the sentence answers the question “Whom does Janusz love?” (Maria). The same sentence with the subject and object reversed Marię kocha Janusz. (in effect, “Maria is loved by Janusz.”) answers the question “Who loves Maria?” (Janusz). Polish often makes use of the device of subject-object reversal to express what the equivalent of passive voice is:

Obudził mnie telefon. I-Acc. was awakened by the telephone-Nom.

Background information is typically placed in the first part of a sentence. Note the difference between Polish and English in this regard:

Jutro wieczorem w tej sali odbędzie się zebranie dyrektorów. There will be a meeting of directors in this room tomorrow evening.

Manner adverbs in Polish tend to be placed earlier in a sentence rather than later. Note here too the difference between Polish and English:

On dobrze mówi po polsku. He speaks Polish well.

Again, if you do have questions, please let me know in comments below.

Do następnego razu! (Till next time…)

Today I wanted to talk about verbal nouns. Pretty easy subject, however it could be a little tricky.

A verbal noun is a noun derived from a verb which still retains many of the properties of the verb, including aspect. Both czytanie and przeczytanie are usually translated as ‘reading’, the first referring to the action, the second to the accomplishment.

Some verbs rarely form the verbal noun but, instead, use an independent noun. For example, obawa (fear) is the de facto verbal noun of bać się (be afraid) or obawiać się (fear).

Verbal nouns decline like neuter nouns:

N. -nie/-enie/-cie  Mówienie prawdy jest ważne.

A. -nie/-enie/-cie  Lubię czytanie.

G. -nia/-enia/-cia  Tu nie ma nic do jedzenia.

I. -niem/-eniem/-ciem  Interesuję się czytaniem.

D./L. -niu/-eniu/-ciu

Use of verbal nouns in Polish:

a) In the do + Gen purpose construction

where English often uses infinitive clauses:

Polecić coś do czytania recommend something to read

Co tu jest do jedzenia? What is there to eat?

Nie mam nic do powiedzenia . I have nothing to say.

where English uses compounds or morphology:

proszek do prania  detergent

proszek do pieczenia  baking powder

maszyna do pisania  typewriter

b) Often with a Genitive Noun

pisanie książki  the writing of the book

mówienie prawdy   telling the truth

ukończenie szkoły   completion of school

c) Otherwise like English gerunds (-ing form of the verb used as a noun)

Nie lubię czekania. I don’t like waiting.

Takie myślenie jest błędne. Such thinking is erroneous.

Robienie na drutach jest nudne. Knitting is boring.

Pływanie po jedzeniu jest niezdrowe. Swimming after eating is unhealthy.

d) Some have become regular nouns with basic (non-derived) meanings:

mieszkanie apartment

pytanie question

jedzenie food

picie drink

życie life

uczucie feeling/emotion

Please let me know if you have questions in comments below.

Do następnego razu! (Till next time…)

Today we will finish talking about cases. The two that we have left is Locative (miejscownik) and Vocative (wołacz).

Locative Case (o czym? o kim?)

Locative indicates a location and is required after the prepositions w in, na (on, at), o (about), po (after), przy (near, during, while)

Ona jest teraz w szkole  Now she is at school -Loc.

Po kolacji idziemy do kina After dinner-Loc. we are going to the movie.

Muszę kupić znaczki na poczcie I have to buy stamps at the post-office-Loc.

Biblioteka stoi przy ulicy Wars The library is next to Wars Street-Loc.

There are several different locative endings in Polish:

1. -ie used for singular nouns of all genders, e.g. niebo → niebie.
   • brat → bracie
   • rzeka → rzece
   • noga → nodze
2. -u used for:
   • Some masculine singular nouns, e.g. syn → synu, dom → domu, bok → boku, brzuch → brzuchu, worek → worku*, nastrój → nastroju*, deszcz → deszczu, miś → misiu, koń → koniu, Poznań → Poznaniu, Wrocław → Wrocławiu, Bytom → Bytomiu** [* In a few cases, a vowel change may occur, e.g. ó → o, or a vowel may be dropped. ** Final consonants in Wrocław and Bytom used to be soft, which is still reflected in suffixed forms, hence -i-.]
   • All neuter singular nouns ending in -e, e.g. miejsce → miejscu, życie → życiu
   • Some neuter singular nouns ending in -o, e.g. mleko → mleku, łóżko → łóżku, ucho → uchu
3. -i used for:
   • Feminine nouns ending in -ia, e.g. Kasia (“Katie”) → o Kasi (“about Katie”), Austria → w Austrii (“in Austria”)
   • Feminine nouns ending in -ść, e.g. miłość (“love”) → o miłości (“about love”)
4. -ach used for plural nouns of all genders, e.g. kobiety (“women”) → o kobietach (“about women”)
5. -ich / -ych Used for plural adjectives of all genders, e.g. małe sklepy (“small shops”) → w małych sklepach (“in small shops”)
6. -im / -ym Used for masculine and neuter singular adjectives, e.g. polski język (“Polish language”) → w polskim języku (“in the Polish language”)
7. -ej Used for feminine singular adjectives, e.g. duża krowa (“big cow”) → o dużej krowie (“about a big cow”)

Vocative Case (O!)

The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence.

Feminine nouns usually take -o, except those ending in -sia, -cia, -nia, and -dzia which take -u, and those ending in -ść which take -i.

Masculine nouns generally follow the complex pattern of the locative case, with the exception of a handful of words such as Bóg → Boże (“God”), ojciec → ojcze (“father”) and chłopiec → chłopcze (“boy”).

Neuter nouns and all plural nouns are the same as in the nominative case.

Usually, the Nominative case functions as a de facto Vocative:

Adam, chodź tu! (Adam -Nom., come here!).

Asia, przynieś książki! (Asia – Nom. bring books)

However, in conjunction with titles, the Vocative is obligatory:

Dzień dobry, panie profesorze! (Hello, professsor-Voc.!).

In addition, the vocative remains prevalent:

1. To address an individual using his/her function, title, other attribute, family role
   • Panie doktorze (Doctor!), Panie prezesie! (Chairman!)
   • Przybywasz za późno, wybawco (You arrive too late, savor-Voc)
   • synu (son), mamo (mom), tato (dad)
2. After adjectives, demonstrative pronouns, and possessive pronouns
   • Nie rozumiesz mnie, moja droga Kasiu! (You don’t understand me, my dear Kasia -Voc!)
3. To address an individual in an offensive or condescending manner, e.g.
   • Zamknij się, pajacu! (“Shut up, you buffoon!”)
   • Co się gapisz, idioto? (“What are you staring at, idiot!”)
4. After “Ty” (second person singular pronoun)
   • Ty kłamczuchu! (You liar!)
5. Set expressions, e.g.
   • (O) Matko!, (O) Boże!, (Mother!, Oh God!)

The vocative is also often employed in affectionate and endearing contexts such as

Kocham Cię Mamo! (“I love you Mom!”)

Tęsknię za Tobą, moja Żono. (“I miss you, my wife.”)

I think we covered everything. If I missed anything or if you have questions, please let me know in comments below. It will probably take a little time and a lot of patience to understand and remember all of it, but don’t give up!

Do następnego razu! (Till next time…)