ON GETTING MARRIED AND PATCHWORK FAMILY. PRACTICAL POLISH WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

VERBS THAT COLLOCATE WITH THE NOUN ŚLUB 
Autumn may not be the most popular time of the year to plan a ślub (wedding), but this topic arouses interest in Polish classes regardless of the season. Let us remind you that in Polish you can brać ślub, i.e. get married (brać/wziąć ślub: check here to find out how to conjugate this verb). When we are talking about this occasion from the perspective of a woman, we say that she wychodzi/wyszła za mąż (wychodzić/wyjść za mąż, which can be understood as „she is getting/got a husband“), and when it’s from the perspective of a man, we say that he żeni się or ożenił się (żenić/ożenić się, which means that he is getting/got a wife)

Oto Mateusz i Klara. Oni wzięli ślub. Mateusz ożenił się z Klarą. Klara wyszła za Mateusza.
Literally: These are Mateusz and Klra. They got married. Mateusz took Klara as his wife. Klara took Mateusz as her husband.

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Another verb you can use in this situation is pobrać się, so:

Mateusz i Klara pobrali się w ostatnią sobotę. (Mateusz and Klara got married last Saturday)

PATCHWORK FAMILY. SOME FAMILY MEMBERS IN POLISH
When two people legalize their relationship outside of Poland and it is not marriage, we say that they zawarli związek partnerski albo weszli w związek partnerski (zawrzeć/ wejść w związek partnerski, i.e. enter/entered into a registered partnership).
As the result of a marriage in Poland people become mąż and żona (husband and wife). Frequently it is their next marriage and then this kind of couple together with the children from their previous relationships become a patchwork family (rodzina patchworkowa). The adults are then not only matka and ojciec (mother and father) for their own children but also become ojczym and macocha (stepfather and stepmother) for their spouse’s children. The word macocha has evolved over the years in the Polish language, since not so long ago it had ominous overtones. For the first time a child encountered this word while reading the Cinderella story. As we all remember, it wasn’t a positive connotation… Additionally, the negative overtone was emphasised by an expression traktować coś/ kogoś po macoszemu, i.e. treat something/someone unfairly, badly, harshly. Fortunately, along with the social changes in Poland the negative meaning of the word is gradually disappearing.

Soon you will be able to read more about Polish vocabulary referring to marital status.

AUTUMN VOCABULARY DILEMAS IN POLISH

NAMES OF FRUIT DELICACIES IN POLISH

Beautiful Polish golden autumn (Indian summer) has started (check here to find out where this name came from) and trees change their colour from green into yellow, red and brown. This is a perfect time for walks or for courses of Polish as a foreign language (alright, there always a good time to learn Polish;-)). And of ocurse, it’s time to make some preserved fruit products (przetwory) , such as dżemy (jams), konfitury (preserves), powidła (plum jam)... And now! Here’s the question: What is the difference between dżem and konfitura? Are these words synonyms, or do they describe completely different sweet products made from fruit?

IN FACT THEY’RE NOT THE SAME

They are definitely not synonyms, and the multitude of names in Polish comes from the difference in their taste and ... the preparation process.
Dżem is the most popular of them, of course. You can find it on a shelf in every shop in Poland, different kinds. It’s made from fruit or its parts. It’s enough to add lots of sugar to it, preferrably the so-called ‘gelling sugar’, and boil it for a long time, stirring from time to time.
Marmolada is the easiest to make (in Polish marmolada – marmalade – is a product made from any kind of fruit, not only citrus fruit). Just add equal amount of sugar to the fruit (50% to 50%), grate it, boil it and then leave it to cool. You can spread it on a slice of bread and eat right away.
If you are a gourmet, however, and love the taste of fruit without any thickeners, you should go for konfitura. You need to select fruit to make it. Only the one that looks best and tasty will be used and added to the sugar syrup prepared beforehand. Konfitury (preserves) require more effort and attention, since you should try not to damage the fruit while stirring and need to keep an eye on the temperature as it should be neither too high nor too low. At the end of the process it’s a good idea to coat the edges of the jars with cognac :) .

No matter which you prefer, dżem or konfitura,
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POLISH DELICACY

Powidła (plum jam) is a real Rolls-Royce among the Polish preserved fruit products. This is a Polish speciality and it is made only from plums (the węgierka variety is the best choice, Eng. common plum). Adding sugar is not necessary. However, you need time, since it takes several days for powidła to be ready. After that we can enjoy the taste of pure fruit during winter evenings.
Now that you know all these words and the differences between them you can get down to work, or simply go to the shop and simply pick a jar with an appropriate name on it. Enjoy!