Saturday Evening Vocabulary

More vocab from Friday's class, including some notes on the dative case (Celownik) coming tomorrow or Monday.

Słownictwo:

• zakłopotany / embarrassed (adj)
• olśnienie / flash of insight (n)
• luka / gap, loophole (n)
• brakować / to lack (v)
• zabraknąc / to lack (v, perf)
• narzekać na / to complain about (v)
• kłocić się / to quarrel, to argue (v)
• korzystać z (czegoś) / to use (something) (v)
• oszczędności / savings (n)
• świnka skarbonka / piggy bank (n)
• przybywać / to arrive (v)
• przybyć / to arrive (v, perf)
• ubywać / to go away, to disappear (v)
• ubyć / to go away, to disappear (v, perf)
• zbyt / too (adv)
• zbyt szybki / too quick
• zmarszczka / wrinkle (n)
• siwy / grey (adj)
• zwariowany / mad, crazy (adj, informal)
• szalony / mad, insane (adj)
• starczać / to be enough (v)
• starczy! / that's enough!
• starczyć / to be enough (v, perf)
• zamiast / instead of (prep)
• właściciel / owner (n)
• mandat / ticket (n) from the police

Zwroty:

• Chyba żartujesz? / Are you kidding me?

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.

Masz Wyrostek?

I'm struggling to keep up with the volume of vocabulary I need to learn to stay afloat in my class. While the class proceeds, I'm simultaneously trying to catch up with the grammar and vocabulary in Hurrah Po Polsku 1 at home. It's a challenge.

Thanks to those adding to my vocabulary lists. It makes it more fun having you involved.

Dzisiejsze słownictwo: (you know what this means by now)

• wnuczka / granddaughter (n)
• uczennica / schoolgirl (n)
• śpiewać / to sing (v)
• czasopismo / periodical or magazine (n)
• uczeń / schoolboy (n)
• płuco / lung (n)
• wyrostek / appendix (n)
• żołądek / stomach (n)

I've also been testing myself with a set of flash cards on the tram . . . I'll post this vocab bit by bit as I master it! I've gone flash card crazy. I'm going to buy some card stock to make cards of my own for recent vocabulary. It's a lot and I need to work on it more. My tram rides seem to go by so quickly now that I am studying vocabulary instead of playing with my phone or looking out the window. I almost feel like riding an extra stop or two to master those cards that are pestering me.

As soon as I perfect making simple tables in blogger, I'll start posting summaries of personal pronouns (zaimek osobowy) and noun endings for biernik and narzędnik.

Wątroba? Nerka?

 Dzisiejsze słownictwo / today's vocabulary:

• dzisiejsza gazeta / today's paper
• rodzić się / to be born (v)
• przez 10 lat . . . / for 10 years . . . 
• ciężarówka / truck (n)
• podróżowałem dookóła swiata / I travelled around the world.
• żaglowiec / sailing ship (n)
• wychować się / to grow up (v perf)
• lekkomyślny / light-minded (adj)
• sprzątnij po sobie świnio! / clean up after yourself, pig!
• przycisk / button (n)
• mogłaby pani powiedzieć 'przepraszam' / you could say 'excuse me'
• wyspać się / to get enough sleep (v perf)
• wreszcie / at last (adv)
• ciągle / still, continuously
• on ciągle jeszcze jest bez pracy / he is still jobless
• pasować / to fit, to suit (v)
• on powinien . . . / he should . . .
• ona powinna . . . / she should . . .
• ukryć / to hide (v perf)
• wątroba / liver (n)
• nerka / kidney (n)
• zostać / to become (v)
• wziąć / to take (v perf)

Time to Catch Up

My first two Polish classes have been great. I've found a course at The Centre for Polish Studies on Swiętokrzyska. I received a recommendation for the school from a friend and so far I'm really very glad I took his advice. We will learn grammar, hence the title of this blog post.

I bought myself a copy of "Hurrah! Po Polsku" last year, and have been making half hearted attempts at working through it on my own and with my wife's help. So far I'm not past chapter five of twenty. What that means is that although I'm speaking a lot more than I was a few months ago, my knowledge of grammar is pitiful. In my new class, we have been doing exercises from well into the second book in the "Hurrah" series, and I'm already way behind! This weekend I am spending some time working through my book and trying to teach myself some of the basic grammar. I need to catch up fast.

I'm no language genius. This stuff is difficult for me to understand, and studying Polish at home reminds me of that frustrated feeling I had while studying for mandatory French classes in school. Grammatical rules confused and irritated me. Polish possessive pronouns in the dative / celownik did so today. I tend to get a little overwhelmed by how much there is to learn so I know I need to break things into pieces. My goals this weekend include:

1. continue studying and recording new vocabulary
2. reviewing and practicing endings for instrumental / narzędnik with adjectives and nouns.
3. reviewing nominative possessive pronouns
4. reviewing and practicing endings for accusative / biernik

I've decided to forgo maintaining one separate, mammoth vocabulary document, and instead post the new vocabulary each day as part of a blog post. Vocabulary preceding today remains on a separate page.

Today's vocabulary so far:

• podniecać / to excite, to thrill esp. sexually (v)
• doczekać / to wait until (v)
• "Nie mogę się ciebie doczekać."
• strzał w dziesiątkę / bull's eye, right on the money
• chyba / probably
• szkoda, że . . .  / It's a pity that . . . 
• o co ci chodzi? / what do you mean?
• nie szkoda ci czasu? / Aren't you wasting your time?
• reżyser / director film (n)
• urzędnik / clerk, office worker (n)