NAMES OF NATIONALITIES IN POLISH

FEMALE NAMES OF NATIONALITIES

Students of Polish as a foreign language don’t have much difficulty using names of nationalities. The instrumantal case, which we use to talk about nationalities, is a regular one, and its endings are easy to remember (Jestem Francuzem/Francuzką – Hiszpanem/Hiszpanką – Polakiem/Polką – Rosjaninem/Rosjanką). There are only a few difficult moments, especially in case of the female forms, which might be a challange because of alterations. Accordingly, we say: on jest Norwegiem/Włochem/Czechem/ Słowakiem/Grekiem/Turkiem, but ona jest Norweżką/Włoszką/Czeszką/Słowaczką/ Greczynką/Turczynką.

UNTYPICAL NAMES OF NATIONALITIES IN POLISH

There are more problems with the nationalities that didn’t exist in the minds of Polish speakers until quite recently. That’s usually because the inhabitants of the given country used to be the citizens of another, bigger country. Who we have in mind are, first of all, the inhabitants of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. While it is relatively easy to name some of them, such as Liwin – Litwinka (Lithuanian), Estończyk – Estonka (Estonian), Gruzin – Gruzinka (Georgian), Chorwat – Chorwatka (Croatioan), the other ones are a fascinating cultural and linguistic mosaic. We should remember that the citizens of Moldova are called Mołdawianin and Mołdawianka, Montenegro (Czarnogóra) – Czarnogórzec and Czarnogórka, Azerbaijan – Azer and Azerka (or Azerbejdżanin and Azerbejdżanka), Kyrgyzstan – Kirgiz and Kirgijka, Tajikistan – Tadżyk, Tadżyjka, Kazakhstan – Kazach, Kazaszka, Armenia – Armeńczyk and Armenka (or Ormianin and Ormianka), Latvia – Łotysz and Łotyszka.

COUNTRIES WITHOUT NAMES OF NATIONALITIES

There are countries, whose citizens don’t have a specific name in the Polish language. That is the case of The Republic of South Africa (RPA), Ivory Coast (Wybrzeże Kości Słoniowej), The United Arab Emirates (ZEA, Zjednoczone Emiraty Arabskie), Vatican (Watykan), Liechtenstein, Fiji. And there appear names that are so rare or hard to use, e.g. Monakijczyk – Monakijka, Andorczyk – Andorka, Sanmaryńczyk – Sanmarynka, that when speaking we go for the easier forms to use and say: mieszkaniec/mieszkanka Monako, Andory, San Marino (the inhabitant of Monaco, Andorra, San Marino).

                                                more on the Polish language in our courses

POLISH LEARNERS' STRUGGLE WITH... DATES

DATES  IN THE POLISH LANGUAGE

Który dziś jest? (What’s the date today?) – the question seems fairly easy, however... Well, we all know that appearances can be deceiving. Then, how to answer that question correctly? Do we say: dziś jest piętnasty stycznia (15th January), or perhaps piętnastego stycznia? When do we say dwa tysiące piętnasty, and when dwa tysiące piętnastego?
Foreigners often ask those questions in Polish lessons when they learn how to read the dates correctly.
To make things harder, native speakers of Polish themselves make mistakes, too, which doesn’t help at all.

WHICH DAY OF THE MONTH IS IT?

So, how to say the dates in Polish correctly?
When asked: Który dziś jest? we should answer: Jest piętnasty stycznia dwa tysiące piętnastego roku (It’s 15th January 2015).
Forms such as piętnasty styczeń we should avoid like the plague, since they are not only wrong, but also simply absurd. If we make an effort to figure out their meaning, we should grab a calendar and check how many months of the year called styczeń there are. The form piętnasty styczeń means the fifteenth January (as if there were many months called January and we are referring to the fifteenth of them), not the fifteenth OF January. It’s the form we use when we say piętnaste piętro (the fifteenth floor), or drugi zawodnik (the second competitor). Therefore, when reading the date 15/01 we should put the name of the month in the genitive case and say piętnasty STYCZNIA. That means we have in mind piętnasty dzień stycznia (the fifteenth day of January), not the fifteenth month called styczeń. That is both gramatically and logically correct.
If someone asks us when we could meet, then we can answer: piętnastego stycznia dwa tysiące piętnastego roku (on 15th January 2015).

WHAT CAN WE SAY IN POLISH ONCE IN A THOUSAND YEARS?

And what if we want to say what year it is? Let’s simply not forget that the Polish language loves declension and use it. Say: jest rok dwa tysiące piętnasty (it’s the year 2015), but w roku dwa tysiące piętnastym rozpoczynają się nowe kursy języka polskiego w Po Polsku (in 2015 new Polish courses start at Po Polsku), in which case we have to use the locative.
We should also mention rok dwutysięczny (the year 2000). This form we can use once in a thousand years. There was rok tysięczny (the year 1000), there was rok dwutysięczny (2000) and there will be trzechtysięczny (3000). But NEVER EVER SAY  dwutysięczny pierwszy. That’s a terrible mistake. Remember that the year 2001 one we read: dwa tysiące pierwszy (thousands and hundreds are used in the form of cardinal numbers and tens and units take the ordinal form).

                                                  Check out our FB profile for more interesting Polish exercises

We wish all our readers interesting Polish lessons (not only of Polish as a foreign language) w dwa tysiące piętnastym roku!

TAILS, STROKES AND DOTS, OR THE ORIGINAL LETTERS OF THE POLISH LANGUAGE

HOW IMPORTANT ARE TAILS IN POLISH LETTERS?

A funny sentence has been circulating online for a while now, it says: „The Polish language is friendly, it wags its tails at us“.
Many foreigners learning Polish ask whether all those strokes, dots and tails are necessary. The truth is that the Polish language cannot do without them not only for historical reasons, which are important, or because of Polish spelling rules, but because they are also diacritical marks that make up a completely new letter (there are 9 of such in the Polish alphabet). Therefore you have to remember that a little tail, a small stroke or a dot can completely change the meaning of a word.

SMALL STROKE – BIG CHANGE IN MEANING

Need an example? The statement Idź do kąta! I przynieś karton, który tam stoi (go to the corner and fetch the carton from there) has a completely different meaning from the sentence Idź do kata! (go away, you’re not welcome here). Kąt means „corner“, while kat is a person that used to carry out executions, an executioner. As you can see, the difference is enormous.

There are many more examples like that. When asked: Co masz w dłoni? (What’s that in your hand?“) we can anwer either nic or nić. The former means that we have nothing there (nic – nothing), whereas the latter means that the person we’ve asked is probably planning to sew, since nić means „thread“.
Żona means „wife“, while zona is a word that means „zone“, which is not common, but still in use these days. The word pół (1/2, half) is completely different from pól (genetive form of the noun pola – fields). Kos is a bird (blackbird), whereas koś is an imperative form of the verb kosić (to mow, to scythe). When I want someone to start driving, I call: jedź! (go!, drive!),  and if I want to encourage someone to eat, I say: jedz! (if you don’t remember how to conjugate the verbs, or you’re not sure whether to use a stroke or a dot, check it here)

WHAT MAKES THE POLISH LANGUAGE WHAT IT IS

It can be said that without all the tails, strokes and dots the Polish language wouldn’t be itself :)
Therefore, it is advisable that the attention  should be drawn to the dots, tails and strokes so that the learners do not confuse nos (nose) with noś (the imperative form of the verb nosić – to wear).

NEW YEAR WISHES IN POLISH

NEW YEAR DILEMMAS

Neither the end nor the beginning of the year, i.e. the moment when most of us enjoy doing nothing, is the time free of language dilemmas for the students of Polish. How to extend New Year greetings and wishes in Polish? What year is it? I’m having a sylwester or Sylwester (New Year’s Eve party)?

DO SIEGO ROKU – WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku is the phrase we hear most often at the end of December and beginning of January. Although it is not too easy to pronounce, foreigners diligently learn these exact words, and forms,  in the classes of Polish. Students also ask what the expressions Do siego roku means, since they can often see it displayed in public places during the holiday season. The expression is derived from ... the Proto-Slavic language, in which the word siego was the Genitive form of the pronoun ś/si, the equivalent of today’s pronoun ten. Do siego roku means the same as do tego roku (until this year), i.e. this year that is coming. The expression used to be one of the wishes, greetings, extended on Christmas Eve.

The party we have on New Year’s Eve is called sylwester. It takes its name after the nameday of Sylwester, which is on 31st December. If we know a man whose name is Sylwester and he was kind enough to invite us to his nameday party, we can say either: Idę na sylwestra (small letter here, since it’s the name of the party), or do Sylwestra (capital letter here, since it’s a proper name).

ROK DWUTYSIĘCZNY OR  DWA TYSIĄCE PIĘTNASTY? (YEAR 2015)

And then, what year is it? There is only one correct answer: dwa tysiące piętnasty. Remember that when learning Polish this year. All the best!

                                                                more in our FB profile