Co za hardkorowy język. Dobrze, że już go znam 😉

"no tak" means 'well yes'. "No" is informal 'yes' (not too polite version), but in some context shows hesitation for example "No nie wiem" = 'I'm not sure', "Nie wiem"='I don't know'. "Chcieć" = want, "Mieć ochotę" = want/fancy for

"Umieć" and "potrafić" is more like "can" and "be able to"

The difference between 'umiec' and 'potrafić' is very subtle and they're often treated as synonyms. I'd say that 'umieć' is knowing how to do something' while 'potrafić' is more like being able/capable of doing sth, having the required skill/ability. That's how I see it.

One thing that makes me irrationally angry is that "Dariusz" and "Darek" are the same name, but "Mariusz" and "Marek" are not.

Don't ask the ‘why’ question any better. In Poland, we have two well-known experts on the Polish language (prof. Jan Miodek, prof. Jerzy Bralczyk) who can talk for hours about why we have such and not another word, why it is conjugated this way, or why we say it this way and not that way.

The book title "Survival Polish" is like "Survival in the jungle" 🤣

I don't know if you've already reached this point when learning Polish, but since Polish is an inflected language, the order of our sentences is "free but not any". Therefore, you can easily say "apple cider" as in English and it won't be a mistake, at most it will sound a bit old-school to some people, or they will think that you are from the east of Poland :) Don't worry at all, unless you want to speak Polish like a native. And you would have to make mistakes anyway, because that's what 80% of Poles do. I also work at the University of Warsaw and sometimes conduct language classes for foreigners. I once asked what they remembered most from my classes. And one Italian replied: "You often repeated the sentence - >" :)

Sebastian is usually Seba for us here in Poland :D

3:43 - we (the Poles) might do the same by saying "slumsy", when word "slums" is already plural, I think. The "y" at the end of words in Polish is mostly added to plural forms.

16:25 it's not about word order but about suffixes. "Rok świni" and "świni rok" would be interpreted exactly the same (year of the pig), although first one is more common. "Świnia roku" and "roku świnia" also means the same thing (pig of the year) however the first option is more common.

Mówiąc inaczej is wonderful channel for you! Paulina is speaking slowly, very clearly, intresting and you will learn so much, so watch more often!

The word order in sentence is also what frustrates Polish when we learn English. It is completely different. e.g. we can translate Spanish literally, word for word, so it means that it is English, which acctually stands out from norm here :D

About this beautiful lady whose video you are commenting on, it was once said among students in Poland that if her hands were cut off, she would talk half as much. This is of course a joke! (Because you also like to gesture.) 😁😁😁 Seriously, I am a 65-year-old Pole who has always been in love with the Polish language. I never claimed to have mastered the Polish language properly! Currently, I have more time to learn the secrets of this extraordinary language - maybe I will write a book about it. Regards!

With the words "potrafić" i "umieć" it's fairly the same story as with "can" and "may" in English. "Can I ... May I", two different words meaning approximately the same but used to express something else depending on the context. Or Much and Many would be even greater example. As for a Chip and Cracker Both are Neologisms taken from English and both refer to a single object. A plural for those would be "Chipsy" "Krakersy", unless you count the specific number of them than it's "Chipsów" "Krakresów" from 5 upwards, or if you're referring to the whole pack of them. "Hand me those chips" - "Podaj mi te Chipsy", "Hand me that pack of chips" "Podaj mi paczkę chipsów"

not sure If you got the candle part? Basicaly znicz is the thing you put a candle into and put on a grave...so Yeah It's would be pretty weird to get one as a gift. Candle in polish would be świeczka or świeca

As for the examples of diminutive names given by the lady in the video, they are quite logical: Joanna -> Joasia -> Asia Małgorzata -> Małgosia -> Gosia and similar Krystyna -> Krysia Katarzyna ->Kasia Zofia -> Zosia Barbara - > Basia

A lil tip: "do widzenia" is a bit of formal, like if you used "good bye" in full and well pronounced way. If not used in formal situation, "do widzenia" may (but don't have to) be seen as emotionally cold, and maybe even a bit rude. For non official situations many Poles will be using "do zobaczenia" (means the same, but it's more like "see you later/soon"). Both can be mixed together in "do widzenia, do zobaczenia" if someone is unsure if they can be less formal, but don't want to be too formal ;) but there are a lot of other, strictly informal terms like "nara", "narka", "siema" (that one can also be used for greeting someone, sometimes as a "bye" it can be extended to "no to siema" as well as most other mentioned options, ie. "dobra, no to nara/narka/na razie/etc." meaning sth like "okay, so bye now").

„Weź to zostaw” - where is your God now? LOL

Respect that you are watching Paulina's channel, her Polish is quite complex. Good luck with learning Polish!

16:50 Polish is actually pretty easy in this case, because it has a relatively free word order. One could say “Świni Rok” and it would be correct, but “Świnia Roku” sounds funny as it has a wrong infliction and by that- a completely different meaning 😜

About the word "no", which, as you already know, Rob, means confirmation in our language - now an anecdote. Some time ago, the famous slogan "No to racism" appeared on football pitches... which in Polish literally means yes to racism.

Znać - To be familiar with something personally, a person or a concept. This could also apply to roads you use. It's both your relationships and applied knowledge. Wiedzieć - Simply to know, to possess the information about something The difference is "knowing something" and "knowing about something" And of course, there is an overlap - You can "Znać" the road to get to the train station and you can "Wiedzieć" how to get there. one describes a thing (in this case, the road is that thing you know) and the other describes the knowledge itself (How to get there) I know that the art of teaching is to explain something complicated in a simple way, but I'm kinda afraid that if I dumb it down too much, people are going to say that I'm making it too simple. But, yes, in essence it's a difference in "knowing something" and "knowing about", and a beginner needn't to bog their head down with specifics such as what a descriptive concept is. Let's keep it simple for now

Mówiąc Inaczej ❤ nie spodziewałem się

"No" is a short form from Czech "ano".

I highly recommend the film, "How to Speak So that You're Listened to?" (Jak mówić, żeby nas słuchano?) Prof. Jerzy Bralczyk

I met both forms - Seba and Bastian for Sebastian so I don't know.

I think that the difference is between "can" and "may". I can do something (physically) and I may not to (by social norms). The best example is when student asks the teacher if he CAN go to beathroom and teacher repliies that he "CAN" but "MAY NOT" to. It simply shows that while he can (physically) he may not because of culture or school norms. And that's the difference. However though "umieć" i "potrafić" has different meanings and it goes WAYYY further. "Umieć" something means you're capable of doing something. "Potrafić" something means that you're not only capable of doing something but also can use this in applicable situations when this "umijętność" fits the need of situation and you can use it accordingly. So being able to do something doesn't mean you do somethining when it's actually needed or "well used" at the moment. Or just fits a situation. While "potrafić" fits the situation well with your "umiejętność" to use it when it's actually needed. And then you "potrafisz" to use it is particular situation.

Ola is Aleksandra, becuse it was from earlier form Oleksandra, thats how it Ola still stuck, when Aleksandra got slightly different sound

You encouraged me to intensify my English learning... and one more thing; I knew from the beginning that you reminded me of someone, and today it dawned on me; You're like Bruce Willis...a little. I admire you for learning this difficult but dear to my heart language.

the money thing is analogous to English numerals for me. why is it the one has st, but eleven has th. two has nd, three has rd, the rest of numbers has th.

I would not worry about zlotych vs zlote. People will always understand "zloty". There are more important things to learn. However, she explaned that in general we have 2,3,4 zlote and 5,6,7,8,9, ... 21 zlotych.

I lern English in a different way. i watch films by English and American people on topics that i know very well (eg. carpentry, blacksmithing, metallurgy and i listen to them) and i also watch English-speaking people commenting on Polish films. (i understend new words from the context) Every now and then i pauses and repeat what they said. When ever posible, i include English subtitles. Im not good, but i try. I think so many yuor fan du this

Older people like me remember a tv program about polish language it was called Ojczyzna polszczyzna - Polish (language is our) homeland by prof. Miodek and broadcasted 20 years (1987-2007). It was a 15 min. short lecture devoted to selected issues of the Polish language. He could trace every Polish grammar issue back in its evolution to the middle ages or the renaissance.

Robert = Bob, William = Bill quite far from being just short version. Also "No" in polish is far from being "No - negative". It is like informal confirmation or strengthening word. It is almost never used in writing. It may also be used as a continuation punctuation word or when speaker needs just a second more to think about next word.

Just to let you know about the difference between " do zobaczenia" means see you really soon like same day later or next day, " do widzenia" more like not being sure when, I'll see you when , I see you " , but not "zegnaj " which means farewell, I might never see you again.

Hi! As someone who's a native Polish speaker and is currently learning Korean and Russian, please don't worry about being able to remember when to say for example złoty, złotych or złote. Native speakers intuitively know these complex rules because they have been exposed to their language their entire lives. Your brain needs to be exposed to the language is so many different context over a period of time to be able to form connections in your brain that provide you with this intuitive knowledge 😊 you're doing great! Powodzenia z nauką języka polskiego!

14:52 - That guy probably never tasted gin.

I always drove my English and Polish teachers crazy because while I knew which grammatical form to use (and sometimes even knew what they were called), I rarely knew why. it just sounded correct, so that was the correct answer. Maybe because I started watching tv shows in English, first with subtitles and later got too impatient to wait for them and got some version of learning by immersion. Too bad I'm not absorbing Japanese the same way now.

2:58 - "I know"(znam) by hearing, by sight. In "know" (wiem), it's always about information regarding the definition of a word, the location of a place, everything in fact. So "wiem" always includes "znam", but "znam" doesn't always mean "wiem". Just like every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square. I know (znam) a word, I (wiem) know what it means. I know (znam) this tree, but I don't know (nie wiem) where we are.

Rob, regarding "złoty": you need to take it as an adjective (means "golden") rather that as an noun. And then all rules will be on place :).

We can say goodbye ( do widzenia) anytime and to anyone. We can only say see you soon (do zobaczenia) to people with whom we are in touch or with whom we are in a very close relationship.However, we also use see you soon ( do zobaczenia) in the context when we have just made an appointment with someone or, in your case, you are finishing a podcast and you know that you will be doing another one soon. This is a form of invitation.

As for swapping places, it will sound unusual, but it still will be understandable if you use correct form. Świnia roku vs rok świni is competely different because of roku vs rok, less because of order.

Yes, enjoyed it. I love languages, their origins, all the why's etc. As for the similar words with different meaning, they're called false friends and you can find some both on sites and in yt, especially between Polish and Czech, but they're also in English, like "eventually", "fatal" or "pathetic" 😂

You're absolutely right! Typical Pole don't even think about which form is correct. And as you said we know that One złoty is One złoty but 5 złotys i 5 złotys. NO ONE REALLY THINKS ABOUT IT! There are grammar rules of course behind it but no one really thinks about then or even know them. We do it automatically - because we were born in this language. We speak proper Polish without even knowing the proper rules of Polish. Some of us of course know - but most of us don't know a shit - but yet even without this deep understanding know how to say everything correct. It's in the way of thinking of Polish people. We grew with that language. However though - even though it's hard - because it is - it's more logical than English is. Sorry but that's the true.

I think a big thing to remember is that Polish "no" isn't a regular word and doesn't have an assigned meaning. It can be used as an affirmative statement, but what it really is is a word that you can add on to any sentence to give it an extra oomph. "No chodź tutaj" has a lot more attitude added than "Chodź tutaj" (come here).

For the numbers, the best explanation I can deliver is that we don't only have singular and plural version for each noun. We also have a double form for each numer that ends with 2, 3 or 4 (except 12, 13 and 14). Example: 1 candle = 1 świeca 2 candles = 2 świece 3 candles = 3 świece 4 candles = 4 świece 5 candles = 5 świec 10 candles = 10 świec 14 candles = 14 świec 15 candles = 15 świec 22 candles = 22 świece 24 candles = 24 świece 25 candles = 25 świec 192 candles = 192 świece (assuming you can pronounce 192 correctly in Polish) 😉🙃 You're welcome 😉

Very nice channel ❤ hope you feel enjoy learning this beautiful but also difficult language ❤

re syntax - due to having a case system we can shift word order almost however we want without changing the meaning. It will only impact emphasis and aesthetics.

living two an a half year in poland, tbh doesn't understand Polish to much but " pig of the year " making sense. We bend the grammer like this while we tired of talking about the topic or to reflect our reaction. in example " gecenin korunde neredesin ?" means " where are you in the blind of the night?". actually making sense when you use the grammer like this as you mention about time or seasons or unknown times. one more example for fun " dunyanin esek zamani" if you translate literally it is "donkey times of the world" but means very very old times like early or mid 1900's. Polish is so unique and fun actually.

most diminutives of names in Poland have a regular form and only some have exceptions, but exceptions occur in many languages. In English, Bill is William and Dick is Richard.

About the "złoty" issue I think I know the answer. Long ago Polish had three forms of nouns: singular, plular and double(I don't know official translation). So there was jedno oko(an eye),wlele ok(many eyes) and dwoje oczu(a pair of eyes).Now there is only singular and plular,but in most of used words the last form remained.

1. Bastian is a form of Sebastian only in German. Yes, it's weird... but cool. 2. The last digit means the end of the conjugation form in Polish, with the exception of numerals from eleven to nineteen. then it's always the same 1,5,6,7,8,9 zlotych, 2,3,4 zlote ;) 2002 złote - 2000006 złotych - simple ;) 3. do widzenia - goodbye -> do zobaczenia - see you ;)

No tak its like : aaaa yes

17:40 "do zobaczenia" (till see you again) means "se you later", "do widzenia" means "goodbye"

and english is imprecise. Thank you

Krakers and chips are not native Polish words, so we keep pronouncation like it is in foreign languages. But we also, a little bit, polonise this words in plural: krakers(y) i chips(y) also in word "chip" we adding (y) on the end for plural (chip(y)), using for single piece original, plural pronoucuation from foreign languages.

In the Polish language, the cases inflection means that the order of the sentence is not necessary to convey its meaning. In principle, words can be in any order in a sentence thanks to inflection by cases, which is impossible in English. The sentence "A man sees a lion" can be written in Polish in any order and it will always mean the same: 1) Człowiek widzi lwa 2) Widzi lwa człowiek. 3) Lwa widzi człowiek 4) Łwa czlowiek widzi. All these sentences means the same thing because the words are in specific cases, order is practically irrelevant. Cases will be the hardest think for you to learn, because you dont have them in English.

@Rob @6:04 "Basti" for Sebastian is used mostly in German language.

Still is more easy to you learn polish than I polish person try to learn korean 😭😭😭😭😭

8:00 nope. it's like "can" in english, but for "I can play drums" and "can I go swimming?" First means I can do something, but second is question, but you don't know i can do swim

16:40 In Polish it's a bit easier with the order of words, cause when you use the correct case of the word (I know, that's the tricky part), you can even mix the words in the sentence and still it would mean the same ("świni rok" would be strange, but mean "rok świni", while the same would be for "roku świnia" and "świnia roku").

Don't worry Rob! Majority of Poles don't know these rules 😁 It's a matter of practicing. You do very well. And your pronunciation is very nice. It's actually impressive that you have learnt very quickly pronunciation rules 🙂 Thank you veeeryyyy much for your interest in Poland ❤️

14:00 "nie tak" actually means a different thing, when we say "coś jest nie tak" it means something's wrong, even though it literally means something is no yes 😅

Maybe you can watch some comparison of Slavic languages ​​and check how much Polish you understand and how much other languages ​​you understand. I mean a video from the "World Friends" channel, e.g.: "Polish Language | Can Ukrainian, Czech and Belarusian Speakers Understand It? (Slavic Languages)" Or some videos from the "Ecolinguist" channel, or the movie "The Polish Language (Is this real?!)"

Hi Rob, When I was at school one of the first things I was forced to learn (obviously after learning basics) in Polish was: Dopełniacz (Kogo? Czego?) 1.Mianownik (M.) - kto? co? (jest) - NOMINATIVE (case) (Who? What?) 2.Dopełniacz (D.) - kogo? czego? (nie ma) -GENITIVE, POSSESSIVE (case) 3.Celownik (C.) - komu? czemu? (przyglądam się) -THE DATIVE (case) 4.Biernik (B.) - kogo? co? (widzę) -ACCUSATIVE 5.Narzędnik (N.) - z kim? z czym? (idę) -INSTRUMENTAL (case) 6.Miejscownik (Ms.) - o kim? o czym? (mówię) -LOCATIVE (case) 7.Wołacz (W.) - o! -VOCATIVE (case) While The Nominative is simple, others aint'. My best advice would be: THESE ARE LIKE BIBLE FOR POLISH SPEAKERS OTHER LANGUGES AND THEY ARE "MUST KNOW" STUFF. MATCH UP EXAMPLES TO EACH ONE AND LEARN THEM, AND IT WOULD BE MUCH MUCH EASIER FOR YOU TO "GET A GRIP". THEN AFTER BASICS LEARN EXCEPTIONS.... 😉 I hope I managed to ease a little your frustrations :) Inspiring video for many. Good stuff! Best of luck! 👍

I think "no tak" is a bilingual double "yes" that originates from Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth where "no" comes from Western Slavic and was used among populace while "tak" comes from Latin(?) influence with a bit of baltic twist to it🤔 "tak" can be used in Belarussian and Ukrainian languages as well☝️

About names, in English that also doesn't make sense; William is Bill, John is Jack, or Edward is Teddy, and I'm pretty sure there are other examples in English

word "no" comes from "ano", a word for "yes" present in western slavic languages, czechs use it for example. So it's not nonsensical if you see where it's coming from. "ano" in polish is more used to emotionaly emphasize expression, less often as simply "yes".

I wonder how many people in Poland understand the differences between smart (mądry) and (inteligenty) smart. I remember we thinking about it for a long time in high school before we understood the differences, and now it seems obvious to me.

Haha, you completely misunderstood what she was meaning with "no tak". Because "no" doesn't mean "nie". It means "yes" :DD

You'll learn soon that words in polish sentences can be arranged almost randomly and still mean the same - you can say both cydr jabłkowy and jabłkowy cydr, doesn't really matter. Some combinations just sound weird but are still grammatically correct and understandable.

Germans do shorten Sebastian to Basti. I certinly knew one :)

In German, Seb is not a diminutive of Sebastian, but of Sepp, a diminutive of Josef! :) Sepp is Polish Józiu

10:50 This should be easy for you, as it is similar in English. Not with the noun, of course, but with the ordinals. There is "nd" every time there is a number ending with 2 (except 12) and "rd" every time a number ends with 3 (except 13), all other plurals having "th". In Polish it's even easier, cause there are only two cases: regular plural for numbers ending with 2, 3 or 4 (except 12, 13 and 14) and "of sth" plural for everything else 😊

When you think of that it huts your mind. I'm glad I already know it.

"Do widzenia" is more formal than "do zobaczenia". "Do zobaczenia" is more like "see you" and "do widzenia" is like polite "goodbye" but not as strong as "żegnam" which is also goodbye but when you whant to point that you really don't want to see that person anymore.

Basically, languages are something different from maths or science where 2+2=4 and there's no doubt about it. Languages are connected with history and culture and so there are lots of weird rules, still taught by teachers but not really used in practice. And think about English: only about 33% of modern English comes from Anglo-Saxon, 41% comes from French as a consequence of the Norman Invasion in the 11th century, etc. Poland was invaded many times over the last 1000 years - by Germans, Russians, Austrians, Swedes etc. and some years later there were new waves of migration causing mixing the languages. If someone isn't a linguist, they don''t need to know why it works that way. The grammar rules are complicated and learning it would take a lot of time. More important is the pragmatic approach to learning a language, that is to be able to communicate with the people in that language. Therefore sometimes it's easier to learn by phrases not individual words - such as: open the door (otwórz drzwi), close the window (zamknij okno) etc. There are also phrasal verbs, idiomatic expressions (such as: take the bull by the horns) and sayings which can't be translated word by word or even sentence by sentence. In Polish there are many consonants in a row, and so if a word is hard to pronounce, it helps if you split it into syllables and then practice. With the numbers, it helps if you just remember that we make sentences in a different way for: singular (1) e.g. There is 1 table - Jest jeden 'stół,', small plural: There are 2 -4: tables - Są dwa, trzy, cztery 'stoły'; and big plural - There are 5 (and over) tables: Jest pięć (5), osiem (8) stołów. Another story - many years ago I stayed in England and I talked with an Englishman about English tenses - simple, continuous, perfect etc.. He said that he had studied them at school but in adult life he didn't remember what and why. The conclusion is that there are some grammar terms necessary only at the time of learning, but when you go to a higher level, you can forget them. An average Pole over 5 years after finishing education, has little knowledge of our grammar. Most of our Polish language classes were about literature and so most of us don't really understand the structure of the language. We just feel it. Regards

I watch (and enjoy greatly!) "Mówiąc inaczej" channel myself! :D Was awesome to see you watching it, Rob. :)

Polecam kanał "Ciekawostki Językoznawcze". Nie ma dużo filmów, ale są ciekawe i mimo, że są po polsku, to mogą zainteresować w zasadzie każdego kto posługuje się językami indoeuropejskimi 😊

11:50 The problem is volume of learning material. "English" series are 6 episodes per season and finish after a few seasons(BTW why series have only one season a year - they should have 4 seasons, shouldn't they? ). "american " series had even 20-26 episodes. Introduction of streaming services lowered that number a bit , but still.

15:36 "godzina" means "hour" in polish, but in serbian means "year", so when someone from serbia asked you "ile masz godzin?" (how many hour you have?) he asked you about your age, not about time :D

About the adjective 2nd thing in Polish: We use it 90% of time in either sciantific names or expressions like the Adjective Noun(The United States, The Black Sea, The National Bank), so an apple sider wouldn't qualify That is also a way to differentiate between a big/huge mountain and The Great Mountain, when you don't have a/the on the start nor difference between great/big(for big you can use duży/wielki, while for the great in case of king or theater only wielki)

przed Tobą droga przez mękę....życzę powodzenia!!

Generally speaking, even swear words in Polish are very extensive compared to English, where there is only one word.

The grave candle story always cackle me up cause I heard similar story about foreign students giving one their professor in Poland as a thank you gift 😂 You may not find it funny if you have never seen a Polish "grave candle" which are called "znicze". Most people from abroad think they are fancy candle holders and essentially they are but for graves lol. Doesn't help that their name in Polish doesn't even suggest connection to such a morbid topic unlike the simple "grave candle" in English.

Mate, let me tell you a little secret. About 900 years ago Polish elders sat around a fire and discussed how to muddle Polish up so much, you guys will decide to quit learning it. My wife was puzzled why my family called my daughter Zofia “Zosia”. I call my nephew Sebastian”Bastuś”. That’s how I formed my own diminutive form🤷‍♂️

03:38 It takes a few seconds to check etymology of the word "Eskimo" - it doesn't originate from English. So we have the same "right" to say "Eskimosi" as English speaking people to say "Eskimos" in plural. 14:19 I don't want to pretend I am an expert in philology, but although it is true that "no" or a similar sounding word means negation in many Germanic and Latin languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Italian), in Czech, which is a Slavic language, like Polish, "ano" means "yes".

English diminutives: Margaret -> Peggy Edward -> Ted and there is more.

" can" can mean both "I am allowed to" and "I know how to"

Regarding the diminutives - I'm also confused when I hear some and I always wonder "why that"? I'm native Polish.

There are subject-verb-object (SVO) languages and subject-object-verb (SOV) languages, but also others, less common. Thinking the basic language property as weird it not right.

1:14 - this is confusing even for other slavic speakers, in Czech, it's the same like in English - apple cider = jablkový cider. When we make fun of Polish, we just swapt it and call it "Polish" 😀

16:00 in czech "kwiecień" means may, but in polish means april

Yeahh, we should have definitely a prize for a Swain of the Year!

17:06 Rob. Bo tu chodzi o to bracie, potomku mordercy, że znicz to *candle również, ale też *funeral flowers so it's confusing sometimes.... 😮

Oh I can see only one thing. Someone fell in love in Paulina.😂

About first one - Socrates engaged in discussions with poets because he believed that, after reading their poems, they possessed deep knowledge about the subjects they wrote about. However, after a few minutes of dialogue, he realized there is a substantial difference between knowing how and knowing what becouse all of them had no idea what they wrote. They were talented but without knowledge, they were using words like pianist use piano keys. For example, a musician can create beautiful music without understanding the theory of sound. A more modern philosopher, Henri Bergson, suggested that hidden cognitive processes, called intuition, could explain this phenomenon.

Because Poland was historically always endangered, the language evolved to quickly differentiate between foreigners and the Poles and to make it harder for any foreign infiltrators to pretend to be Polish. English was the language of commerce and conquest so it evolved to make communication easy.

Well - about diminutives of names - in English William becomes Bill...