GOL (goal), REMIS (draw), SPALONY (offside), THE MOST POPULAR FOOTBALL TERMS IN POLISH

With Euro 2016 in progress we simply can’t ignore it and not post an entry about football. All the more so because this topic is heatedly discussed in virtually each Polish class in our school these days (more on summer Polish courses here). Let’s get you ready then for your next get-together with Polish friends at a pub. In square brackets you will find the nominative of the footbal terms used in the text.

PIŁKA NOŻNA – BASIC VOCABULARY IN POLISH 
That’s right. Piłka nożna (football)  is almost like a religion in Poland. You can grać w piłkę (play football) on boisko (pitch) or watch a mecz piłki nożnej na stadionie [stadion] (a football match at the stadium) together with other kibice (fans). During this match you should dopingować ulubioną drużynę [drużyna] (i.e. cheer for your favourite team), or kibicować (support) in other words. In this case you can ask a friend Komu kibicujesz? (who are you supporting?). A match lasts 90 minutes and is played by two teams of jedenastu zawodników/ piłkarzy/ graczy [zawodnik, piłkarz, gracz] (eleven footballers/players). One of them is the bramkarz (goalkeeper), who broni bramki [bramka] (defends the goal). The other players are napastnik (striker), whose role is to attack, obrońca (defender), who’s responsible for defending the penalty area of his team and pomocnik (midfielder), who’s playing in the central part of the field. Outside the field there is ławka rezerwowych (the substitutes‘ bench) and it’s the trener or selekcjoner (coach) who decides which of the players and when will substitute one of the playing colleagues.
The proper course of the game is monitored by a sędzia (referee), also known as the arbiter, who is assissted by assistant referees. The referee will call czas dodatkowy (extra time) if necessary.

                                   More vocabulary not only related to football you can find on our FB site

WHAT’S GOING ON ON THE PITCH? RZUTY, GOLE, KARTKI 
During a match players score goals (strzelić gola). A team may wygrać (win) or przegrać (lose): Włochy wygrały z Hiszpanią 2:0 (Italy won against Spain 2:0). When both teams score the same number of goals or don’t score any goals, the match ends in a draw (remis). And when the match is played o awans do ćwierćfinału lub półfinału (to get into quarterfinals or semifinals) and the 90-minute game ends in a goalless draw, dogrywka (overtime) is called. Should this part end in no goals scored, the players start rzuty karne [rzut karny] (penalty shoot-out). That’s what happened when Poland was playing against Switzerland.
If a player is fouled, the referee stops the game and then restarts it by letting the team that suffered take a rzut wolny (free kick). Rzut wolny is also called when the foul is committed within pole karne (penalty mark). It may also be ruled as a result of spalony (offside), i.e. a situation when a player who is on the side of the pitch of the opposite team is closer to the goal line of the rivals than the ball is and does not have at least two players of the opposite team in front of him. There is an international synonym of the word spalony – ofsajd. Another international word we can think of is korner, or, to use a Polish word, rzut rożny (corner kick).  For a foul or other unsportsmanlike conduct the referee may punish the player with a żółta or czerwona kartka (yellow or red card).

Naturally, we know that this entry does not exhaust the topic, but we hope it will prepare you better for the next match you go to see together with your Polish friends and may even encourage you to play a game of football with them on a real pitch. Have fun!

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT SNOW IN POLISH

EXPANDING POLISH VOCABULARY
The time has come when apart from carnival parties, keeping New Year’s resolutions (such as taking a course of Polish as a foreign language – you can find more information about the courses here), conversations about … snow begin to take place.
Frequently, during Polish lessons, the students seeing whirling, white flakes outside the window ask: How do you say it in Polish? Today we would like to present a handful of practical phrases so that you can be prepared for the winter season also in terms of language.

WHEN IT SNOWS, OR HOW TO SAY IT IN POLISH
Śnieg pada. However, the Polish language is very precise in terms of the white fluff. Pada śnieg indicates that the precipitation is neither too heavy nor too light. When the snow falling from the clouds on the ground is fine grained and there is not too much of it, we say prószy śnieg. And when the flakes become large and it starts to snow heavily, we will say that śnieg sypie.
After all those weak and heavy precipitations, we have to odśnieżyć, that is to remove the snow from steps, doormats, pavements, streets, cars, etc.
All this is fine as long as there is mróz, that is the temperature is below zero. It’s worse when it turns warmer. Next the white fluff starts melting, and odwilż comes. Then, on the streets and pavements, appears an even and smooth layer of ice. We call this phenomenon gołoledź. If you happen to go to your Polish class in such weather, make sure to check whether the pavement is posypany with sand. And when you finally reach the place safely, you will be able to boast that you know what gołoledź 
means.

                              You can find more of the Polish language trivia on our FB profile .

CHARMS OF POLISH WINTER 
Luckily, low temperature has its charms as well. After a frosty night szron appears on the windowpanes, bus stops and trees, which can be seen in the beautiful images created by nature from needle ice.
It is best, from point of view of safety, to zeskrobać szron that settled on our car’s windshield. The well prepared for this situation car drivers use a special skrobaczka. Those who don’t have them often reach for anything they happen to have at hand, e.g.: for … credit cards:)
Anther winter phenomenon is szadź, which picturesquely wraps tree branches with ice crystals. How do you tell the difference between szadź and szron? The best thing to do is to go outside on the streets and listen to the words the Polish use.

We hope that after reading this text you have enriched your winter-related vocabulary.

POLISH PRZEDWIOŚNIE (EARLY SPRING), OR SIX SEASONS OF THE YEAR

SIX POLISH SEASONS?

How many seasons are there? Everyone will immediately answer: „Four“. True, but in Poland, which lies in the temperate climate zone, there are in fact ... six seasons! The conventional ones are wiosna, lato, jesień and zima (spring, summer, autumn and winter), but there are two more: przedzimie and przedwiośnie (early winter and early spring). As their names indicate, they occur between the seasons: przedzimie between autumn and winter (that’s the time of listopad – November – with its gloomy and gray weather), while przedwiośnie between winter and spring. A student learning Polish in a course will definitely hear about the two additional seasons from their teacher. And while living in Poland everyone (not only the foreigners) will get to experience them personally.

PRZEDWIOŚNIE, OR THE TIME BEFORE WIOSNA (SPRING)

What is przedwiośnie characterized by? First of all, the temperature is higher than in winter with a clear upward trend. It’s not as warm as spring, but there is no winter frost anymore. Daily temperature ranges between 0 and 5C. If there is precipitation, it’s usually either rain or mixed snow and rain and the weather conditions are described as odwilż, which means warming combined with snow melting, or plucha, ugly rainy weather (if you’d like to learn more new Polish words, check out our FB profile). Przedwiośnie is chilly, rainy, with overnight frost, clouds, but at the same time with the sun appearing from behind the clouds, and first flowers coming out (called przebiśniegi, snowdrops). It’s the time when nature comes to life. It’s the season, which announces the arrival of warm, sunny and green spring.

                                            Przebiśnieg (snowdrop) is a symbol of Polish przedwiośnie

POLISH PROVERB SAYS...

There is a well-known Polish proverb which perfectly describes the changeable weather of przedwiośnie: W marcu jak w garncu (literally: March is like a pot; similar to the English proverb: March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb). It says that at the time of przedwiośnie all weather phenomena, the ones typical of winter and those characteristic of spring, mix and stir as if cooked in a pot :)
 Therefore, if you look out of the window during your Polish class and see rain, do not get upset by the early spring weather. That is a prelude to spring.

CHRISTMAS IN TRADITIONAL POLISH STYLE

POLISH CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION 

Christmas is a time everyone always looks forward to and anticipates. And Christmas celebrated in „Polish style“ is shrouded in myth and legend among foreigners. There are stories of tables groaning with food, multi-generational family reunions and beautiful Polish Christmas carols sung by whole families. It is not surprising, since Polish Christmas celebration traditions are not only rich, but also simply beautiful.

SPARE PLATE ON POLISH TABLE

In Poland the celebration begins with the Christmas Eve supper (kolacja wigilijna). It’s a time of joyful anticipation. Everything must be very well prepared and, as the Polish nicely put it, „zapięte na ostatni guzik“ (buttoned up).
First, we decorate the Christmas tree, then we lay the table. We often put a bundle of hay under the white tablecoth, which is a reminder of a manger where Jesus was born. There is always one place-setting more than there are guests who will be sitting at the table. The spare plate is meant for a „weary wanderer“, a traveller who might knock on the door on that night. The Polish tradition refers to the search for a place to spend the night by Mary and Joseph and says that on the Christmas Eve night everyone should let in an unexpected guest if one stands at their door.

                                                    What do you call a Christmas tree in Polish?

                                                         Other riddles refering to the Polish language you can find here

TWELVE DISHES FOR THE CHIRSTMAS EVE SUPPER

Nowadays, you can find twelve dishes (the number refers to twelve apostles and twelve months), but it wasn’t always like that. In the old days nine dishes were served at mansions of nobility and eleven at mansions of magnates. The odd number was believed to bring prosperity and abundance to the household in the upcoming year. The dishes served on Christmas Eve vary from region to region, however, they should always contain all the fruits of the earth, coming from the fields, woods, gardens and water. Therefore, traditional dishes are made with poppy seeds, grains of cereals, cabbage, mushrooms, honey, fruit and fish. Poppy seeds and cereals would provide wealth and offspring, fish would provide health, cabbage would give people strengh and vitality, mushrooms – prosperity and good fortune, honey – well-being and long life, and fruit – love and harmony. If you have a lesson on Christmas in your Polish class, you’ll find out that there’s no Christmas without barszcz z uszkami (beetroot soup with ravioli), pierogi z kapustą i grzybami (dumplings filled with cabbage and cooked dried mushrooms), śledź (herring), karp (carp), or kompot z suszonych owoców (dried fruit compote). There must be makowiec (poppy seed cake), piernik (gingerbread), babka drożdżowa (yeast cake) and kutia (sweet grain pudding).
The Christmas Eve supper doesn’t begin until the appearance of the first star in the sky. Before we sit at the table and start feasting we share opłatek (wafer) and wish each other good fortune and happiness, since Christmas is a time of forgiving and reconciling.

WHO BRINGS POLISH CHILDREN GIFTS?

After the supper many Poles sing Christmas carols. That is also a moment when Święty Mikołaj (Saint Nicolas), Gwiazdor (in Wielkopolska, Kujawy, Kaszuby and Western Pomerania), Aniołek (in Małopolska), or Dzieciątko Jezus (Child Jesus, as they call him in Upper Silesia) bring gifts.
At midnight whole families attend Pasterka, the Midnight Mass at the local church, which takes its name after pasterze (shepherds), who were the first ones to welcome the newly born Jesus. That is the night when everyone enjoys the beginning of Christmas.

                      You’ll learn in our courses of Polish for foreigners how to wish someone a Merry Christmas 

BASIC VERBS OF MOTION IN THE POLISH LANGUAGE

PROBLEMS WITH THE VERBS OF MOTION

„Chodzę na zakupy“ or „Idę na zakupy“? „Jeżdżę na wakacje“ or „Jadę na wakacje“? All the forms are correct. Why then do so many foreigners find it difficult to use these verbs? And why is it so hard for the Polish (and many teachers of Polish as a foreign language)  to explain the specific nature of this grammatical issue? The only ones that don’t have difficulty using the verbs iść - chodzić - jeździć - jechać are the Slavic students. They have the same kind of verbs in their languages. However, we need to bear in mind that e.g. the Slovaks use the verbs „chodzić“ and „iść“ in the sense of „jechać“, „jeździć“, „podróżować“ (to travel) and therefore we can hear them say „ist‘ vlakom“, „ist‘ na bicykli“. Despite the minor differences it can be said that in general the Slavic students do not have difficulty using the verbs of motion as do the other foreign students. Because how to explain that there are two verbs that mean „to go“ in the Polish language?

COMMON MISTAKE BY TEACHERS OF POLISH

Unfortunately, many teachers, following the coursebooks of Polish as a foreign language, introduce all the four verbs in one lesson. As a result, the students confuse not only their meaning but also make mistakes conjugating them and make sentences like „jecham rowerem“, „idą do Kreta“, „dzisiaj chodzę do sklepu“. How to straigthen that out? It’s really easy. First, we need to realise that one of the verbs refers to using means if transport (jechać), while the other one implies walking, going on foot (iść). After we have practised using and conjugating them, we can introduce the verbs chodzić – jeździć in one of the following lessons. They’re useful especially when talking about one’s hobbies („Lubię chodzić do kina“ – I like going to the cinema, „Lubię jeździć na rowerze“ – I like riding a bike).

A QUESTION FREQUENTLY ASKED IN POLISH CLASS

OK, but what’s the difference between iść and chodzić, jechać and jeździć? Without using complex grammatical terms? Well, the verbs iść and jechać refer to ONE-TIME actions and are used with time expressions such as jutro (tomorrow), dzisiaj (today), w ten piątek (this Friday) or with specific dates. The verbs chodzić and jeździć describe REPEATED, habitual actions and therefore we use them with expressions like często (often), zawsze (always), od czasu do czasu (from time to time), raz na rok (once a year), nigdy nie (sic! never) etc.
Afterwards we should practise the use of the verbs by doing exercises, paying particular attention to the conjugation of the verbs jeździć and jechać. The similarities!

                                                         more on our FB page