In Polish language we use zmiękczenia; their purpose is to soften some of the letters by adding „i” after the consonant:bi, chi, ci, dzi, fi, gi, hi, ki, mi, ni, pi, si, wi, zi .
Below we have the examples of different words with their translation followed by the audio with pronunciation of each single word.
Try to repeat all after me and enjoy learning new words! 🙂
Zmiękczenia
Would you like me to help you pronounce other words?
After today’s class you will be able to ask and answer question “what is your name?” in Polish language. Let’s first have a look at conjugation of verb “nazywać się“:
As we can see the core word for verb „nazywać się” is „nazywa”.
To ask someone „what is your name?” in Polish language we would use:
„Jak się nazywasz?” or “Jak masz na imię”?
We can answer to it in three different ways:
Nazywam się…
Mam na imię…
Jestem…
„Jestem” as we know from previous classes means „I am”. „Nazywam się” and „Mam na imię” means in English exactly the same which is „My name is…”.
Here is an audio with pronunciation of sentences from the examples below:
In this class you can find some of the basic colours names in Polish language, their pronunciation and few questions related with the subject f.e. “what is your favourite colour?”.
Enjoy learning it with mypolish4U! 🙂
Q & A:
What colour is it? = Jaki to kolor?
It is….= To jest ….
What is your favorite colour? = Jaki jest twój ulubiony kolor?
My favorite colour is blue. = Mój ulubiony kolor to niebieski.
What colour are your eyes? = Jakiego koloru masz oczy?
I have green eyes. = Mam zielone oczy.
Here are few more common colours names that you can use:
If you want to say that something is colourful you can use the word“kolorowy”f.e colourful painting = kolorowy obraz; colourful butterfly = kolorowy motyl; colourful World = kolorowy Świat.
TRY YOURSELF!
To practice the names of the colours you can name all the colours on the rainbow below:
How many of them you’ve got right? 😀
Is there any other colour you would like to learn?
1.Polish is considered as one of the most difficult languages! I’m so lucky to be Polish 😉
2. The population in Poland is around 38mln but there are more than 50mln people speaking Polish language in the World!
3. Many important people are/were Poles like: Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus Copernicus), Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Andrzej Wajda, Adam Małysz, Fryderyk Chopin or Święty Jan Paweł II (Saint John Paul II).
4. It is believed that the geographical center of Europe is situated in Poland. Exactly in Polish village called “Suchowola”.
5. Zamek w Maborku (Malbork’s Castle) is one of the biggest gotic castle in the World. It was the most powerful fortress of medieval Europe. It is one of my favourite spots to visit in Poland!
Today I would like to show you how to use “to be” verb with personal pronouns in Polish language. After that, you will be able to say for example “ I am Patrick”, “He is John”, “They are Irish” but in Polish of course 😉
Let’s start then with personal pronouns!
I am using m. = male and f. = female
General rules for many verbs conjugation in Polish language:
the verb is changing its ending with different personal pronouns
the core word stays usually the same
f.e.: I am = Ja jestem; You are = Ty jesteś; We are = My jesteśmy… The core word here will be “jest“.
Next we will move to our verb “to be” = “być”. It is a bit tricky verb as it changes to “jest…” as we conjugate it by each person, it doesn’t have to see anything with its basic form “być”. As we can see below:
You can use that construction to tell someone for example your name, nationality or gender:
“Jestem Sylwia, jestem Polką, jestem kobietą” / “I am Sylwia, I am Polish, I am a woman”.
Today we will learn how to say “hello” and other greetings used in everyday Polish language.
Let’s get it started! 🙂
Powitania-Greetings
Słowniczek – Glossary:
Cześć = Hi/hello
Hej = Hi
Witam/Witaj = Welcome
Dzień dobry = Good morning/ good afternoon
Dobry wieczór = Good evening
Dobranoc = Goodnight
Do widzenia = Goodbye
Do zobaczenia = See you
Do jutra = See you tomorrow
Pa pa = Bye bye
In Poland we are distinguishing formalandunformal language. Formal language is to be used with strangers, our supervisors and elder people. On the other hand, unformal will be used talking with your family, friends or ocassionaly with peers (f.e. if they are not your supervisors/bosses).
That language rule can be broken only if a person would ask you to be called by their name:
“Proszę, mów mi Anna…” – Please, call me Anna…”.
“Cześć”, “Hej” and “Pa pa” – are typical for unformal language, we won’t use them in formal conversation.
In formal convesation we would use“Witam”, “Dzień dobry”, “Dobry wieczór”, “Do widzenia”.
Of course, it is not a crime to use “Witaj!” with your friends but it might cause a smile on their faces. That rule is more about putting in life good education and manners. A child wouldn’t say “Cześć” to a teacher beacause it is simply inappropiate 🙂
Easter is a very special time in Poland when we gather with our family to celebrate the Resurrection. It begins with Lent on Ash Wednesday and last for 4 weeks. Week before the Easter we celebrate the Palm Sunday, when people go to the church with colourful palms made of flowers.
Palmy wielkanocne
On Good Friday we celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus, in some cities there are processions.
We prepare a special basket with food called “Święconka” on Holy Saturday. The basket contain eggs, sausages, bread, salt, cake and sugar lamb (baranek cukrowy), it is all blessed by priest with holy water.
Święconka – koszyczek wielkanocny
One of the most popular tradition is painting eggs called “pisanki” – decorating hard boiled eggs with different patterns and techniques. You can use your creativity here and make it real fun for the whole family!
Pisanki
The most important day is Easter Sunday – the Resurrection day. On Easter morning we start our breakfast with sharing the food from “Święconka”. After we start the celebration with a lot of different type of dishes like “żurek”, “baba wielkanocna”, “mazurek” . You can find out more about typical food prepared on Easter in here:
Polish Easter food by Cooking the World
Children are given some small gifts (like chocolate eggs – czekoladowe jajka), they believe that eggs were brought by “zajączek wielkanocny” (Easter bunny).
In Poland, Easter Monday is know as “Śmingus-dyngus” or Wet Monday. Do you want to know more about that tradition? Watch the video below:
Wet Monday – PolishPod101.com
Słowniczek – glossary:
Wielkanoc – Easter
Post – Lent
Środa Popielcowa (Popielec) – Ash Wednesday
Niedziela Palmowa – Palm Sunday
Wielki Piątek – Good Friday
Wielka Sobota – Holy Saturday
Święconka (koszyczek wielkanocny) – Easter basket
Śmingus – dyngus – Wet Monday
Jajka – eggs
Pisanki – decorated eggs
Baranek – lamb
Zajączek wielkanocny – Easter bunny
Wesołego Alleluja! – Happy Easter! 🙂
Do you like Polish Easter traditions? Which of the dishes would you like to try? How do you celebrate Easter in your country?
There are 7 two letter combinations in Polish language. Each of them corresponds a single sound. Letters ch = h and rz = ż are pronunced exactly the same way.