13 kwietnia 2011

Powinien . . .

A note to anyone reading this blog for the first time: I don't purport to be an authority on the Polish language. I'm just recording my notes and experiments - some are bound to fail. Follow my advice at your own risk!

One new topic from our last class was 'powinien.' It is a bit of a strange one. I guess it translates pretty directly as 'should,' but there are different forms for each pronoun. There's also no infinitive or 'bezokolicznik' form. Here's how it looks:
  • (ja) powinienem . . . (masc)
  • (ja) powinnam . . . (fem)
  • (ty) powinieneś . . . (masc)
  • (ty) powinnaś . . . (fem)
  • (on) powinien . . .
  • (ona) powinna . . .
  • (ono) powinno . . . (neut)
  • (my) powinniśmy . . . (masc)
  • (my) powinnyśmy . . . (fem)
  • (wy) powinniście . . .
Pretty straightforward. So now I should go out and give lots of advice. As usual one should examine oneself before casting the first stone.
  • Powinienem jeść więcej lody. / I should eat more ice cream.
  • Powinieneś zgolić te śmieszne wąsy. / You should shave that ridiculous moustache.
  • Powinnaś zrobić sobie przerwę. / You (fem) should take a break.
  • Powinniśmy pomóc Henrikowi doiść do domu. / We should help Henrik walk home.
Do you have any advice for me? What should I do?

Słownictwo na dziś: (I'll certainly add to this after today's class!)
  • dodatkowy / additional (adj)
  • pole / field (n)
  • pole naftowe / oilfield (n)
  • środek pobudzający / stimulant (n)
  • żaglowiec / sailing ship (n)
  • bosman / bosun a job on a sailing ship (n)
  • wychować się / to grow up
  • dbać o . . . / to care for (v)
I'll try to separate pure vocabulary from phrases from now on, as well as include appropriate prepositions that co-locate with verbs. No sense learning everything twice. The same goes for you folks learning English vocabulary. I strongly recommend you include some kind of determiner before each item in your vocabulary lists. Any determiner will do. This helps train your brain to include determiners in your writing and speech. for example:
  • THE tree
  • MY book
  • A house
  • AN hourglass
  • HIS shoes
Back to Polish.

Zwroty / phrases:
  • daj (mi) spokój! / give me a break!
  • przypuszczam, że... / I suppose, that . . .
  • w porównaniu z . . . / compared with . . . 
    • W porównaniu ze swoją siostrą jest bardzo rozsądna. / Compared with her sister, she's very sensible.

10 komentarzy:

  1. I don't want to get into it, but there's one more irregularity; you don't say "powinienaś", but "powinnaś". The 'e' is deleted, and so is the softening of 'n'.
    Powinienem jeść (no need for the Perfective) więcej lodów.
    Powinieneś zgolić (Perfective) te śmieszne wąsy.
    Powinnaś zrobić sobie przerwę.
    Powinniśmy pomagać Henrikowi (komu? czemu?) iść do domu.

    OdpowiedzUsuń
  2. Come on Vintage Mint, you commented but don't want to get into it?! Just kidding, it was actually a mistake on my part. I wrote it down properly in my notebook but started adding letters in when I wrote in here. Thanks.

    I actually understand the reasons for your other corrections, which is what amazes me the most. I'm actually learning! I changed a couple more of the verb forms from perfective to imperfective. Thanks!

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  3. (ja) powinienam -> (ja) powiNNam (fem), also a stimulant should be środek pobudzający

    Was the moustache sentence inspired by Paddy? ;)
    Have you been a bosun on a tall ship? Picton Castle?

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  4. @papageno - thanks! duly noted and corrected.

    Yes, the moustache sentence was inspired by Paddy. All sentences were inspired by real life events! You should see the moustache in real life!

    I have indeed been bosun on a tall ship and it was Picton Castle. And you?

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  5. Huh, everything's already corrected, so I'll stick to the vocabulary/phrase contribution today.

    But before that, one thing:
    "Powinniśmy pomóc Henrikowi iść do domu. / We should help Henrik walk home."

    Powinno być "dojść" (v, perf) zamiast "iść"; then it translates properly to "We should help Henrik to walk (meaning: get) home. (on foot)"

    Słownictwo:

    zamiast -> instead of (prep)
    właściciel -> owner (n)
    bilet -> ticket (n), (to the concert, train and so on) but mandat -> ticket (n) , (from the police) , got the latter one for drinking a beer in a park with my friend today, inspired by an real life event :(

    Zwroty:

    Chyba żartujesz? (informal) / Chyba Pan/Pani żartuje? -> You're kidding me?

    By the way, as for now I'm picking the vocabulary and phrases simply while reading Polish news, you prefer it that way, or maybe all around one single topic?

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  6. Polish song about a bosun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIogLnJs988
    :)

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  7. @Chris,

    dojść it shall be . . .

    The subtleties of these differences are often lost on me but I'll understand it all eventually. If you want to contribute vocabulary, just contribute whatever you fancy. I'll only add words to my daily lists if I don't already know them.

    @Anonimowy - fun song. I'll have to spend some time on the lyrics!!

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  8. @Kolin,

    To be honest, I've started to notice how, let me say, fucked up, the Polish grammar is since explaining the stuff here, for me it's obvious, but trying to explain this to someone, huh.

    Słownictwo i zwroty:

    Try to translate this into English, the same author, the same topic as "10 w skali Beauforta" mentioned above - vocabulary challenge, that's what this is all about, right? :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RPsoR5gZuE

    Lyrics checked and uploaded by me here:

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6222383/port.txt

    A bit of info on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czerwone_Gitary , Klenczon's most famous contribution to Polish big-beat/rock'n'roll in the 60's.

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  9. Podziwiam :)))))
    I gratuluje motywacji!
    Naprawde LUBIE TO! w 100%!!!

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  10. @Kolin I'm more into smaller yachts, but I've also sailed on two Polish tall ships.

    Picton Castle looks great, it must have been a pleasure to sail.

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