Would you like to start learning Polish language or improve your Polish skills?📖📚 Don’t hesitate to contact me!!! 😀 I am a qualified teacher with many years of experience 👩🏼🏫
Learn
Zmiękczenia – tricky “i”
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! 🙂
Would you like me to help you pronounce other words?
Write to me or leave a comment! 🙂
Jak się masz? / How are you?
When we would like to ask someone “how are you?” in Polish language we would ask: “Jak się masz?”.
Typical answer to this question is “Dobrze, dziękuję, a ty?” (eng. “good, thank you, and you?”).
Depending on our mood, we can answer “Jak się masz?” question in many different ways, here are some examples:
Świetnie ! – Great!
Bardzo dobrze – Very good
Dobrze – Good
Nieźle – Not too bad
Tak sobie – So so
Bywało lepiej – It could be better
Źle – Bad
Bardzo źle – Very bad
Fatalnie! – Horrible!
Jak się masz?
Dobrze, dziękuję, a Ty?
Świetnie! Dzięki.
A ty, jak się masz? 🙂
Are you enjoying learning with me? Share it in the comment!
Would you like to learn more? 🙂
Visit my Instagram @mypolish4U or my FB profile MyPolish4U for daily Polish words!
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
“Nazywać się” = “to be called”
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:
A ty? 🙂
Jak się nazywasz?
Kolory = colours
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?
Let me know in the comment! 🙂
5 facts about Poland & Polish language
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!
I leave here a list of some beautiful castles that are definitely worth a visit on your next trip to Poland: https://polskapogodzinach.pl/najpiekniejsze-polskie-zamki/
Do you know any interesting facts about Poland or Polish language?
Share it with me in the comment! 🙂
“BYĆ” = “to be”
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!
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”.
Do you want to know more? Ask me!
I can tell you how to say your nationality! 🙂
“Cześć” – Powitania/ “Hello!” – Greetings
Today we will learn how to say “hello” and other greetings used in everyday Polish language.
Let’s get it started! 🙂
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 formal and unformal 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 🙂
How would you say “Cześć” in your language?
Comment below! 🙂
Tradycje wielkanocne – Easter traditions
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.
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.
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!
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:
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:
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?
Share your traditions in comment!
Dwuznaki / Two letter combination
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.
CH CZ RZ SZ DZ DŻ DŹ
More words to practice your pronunciation:
Ch – choinka (Christmas tree), chleb (bread)
Cz – czołg (tank), czoło (forehead)
Rz – rzecz (thing), drzewo (tree)
Sz – szalik (scarf), szczotka (brush)
Dz – dzwonek (bell), dzban (jug)
Dż – dżdżownica (earthworm), dżungla (jungle)
Dź – dźwięk (sound), niedźwiedź (bear)
Would you like to learn more Polish?
Contact me! 🙂
How to learn the Polish alphabet easily!
1.Watch the videos with pronunciation, pause the video and repeat the sound of each letter!
2. Make a list of the words with each letter of the Polish alphabet. F.e. “a” – auto, “d” – dom, “z” – zebra (you can use the words that appeared in the videos or other words that you already know).
3. Find similarity! Write down to which sound in your language the sound is similar f.e. “cz” in Polish word “cześć” for English speaker would be like “ch” in the “chocolate”.
4 .Make your letter “memory word”! For each of the letters have one word that is going to be like your reminder when you will forget how the letter sounds. F.e. the word “dom” is going to be always your “memory word” for the letter “d”.
5. Learn all the rules “Remember that” from last post!
6. Make sure to update your list and add new words to it!
Do you have any ideas how to make learning Polish alphabet easier?
Share it here with others leaving the comment! 🙂
MyPolish4U 