DWA PAŃSTWA (two meanings of „państwo“)
Today we are going to start with a riddle:Państwo na K i osiem liter?
Kowalscy!
Wait! Everyone learning Polish not only as a foreign language (information on courses you can find here) knows that państwo is the same as kraj, which means a politically organised group that lives in a territory defined by borders. Hence, there is państwo polskie (literally: Polish state/Poland), państwo niemieckie and państwo francuskie. Does that mean then that a state that starts with K and consists of 8 letters is... Kambodża (Cambodia)? Is the answer to the riddle wrong? Well, no! The answer is correct. The word państwo means not only a form of political organisation but is also the plural of pan and pani. Pan Kowalski (Mr. Kowalski) and pani Kowalska (Mrs. Kowalska) are państwo Kowalscy (Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski); pani Nowak and pan Nowak are państwo Nowakowie.
POLISH GRAMMAR TO THE RESCUE
How do we differentiate between these two meanings then? And here’s where grammar comes to your rescue. We say that państwo polskie prowadzi ciekawą politykę zagraniczną (Poland/Polish state pursues an interesting foreign policy); historia państwa polskiego jest bardzo ciekawa (the history of Poland is very interesting); razem z państwem polskim współpracują państwa sąsiednie (neighbour countries are cooperating with Poland); słyszałem wiele dobrego o państwie polskim (I’ve heard many good things about Poland). As you can see, the word państwo here is used in the singular (to państwo is neuter).When we’re talking about pan and pani Kowalski, they are ci państwo and we need to use the plural verb form (if you don’t remember verbs conjugations, check here) and the plural of the last name. Consequently, we say: państwo Kowalscy przyszli na spotkanie (Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski came to the meeting); to są dzieci państwa Kowalskich (these are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski); dałem zaproszenie państwu Kowalskim (I have given the invitation to Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski); lubię państwa Kowalskich (I like Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski); słyszeliśmy o państwu Kowalskich wiele dobrego (we have heard a lot of good things about Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski).
As you can see, grammar can be really useful in everyday situations :)
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Let’s not forget about one more thing: the word państwo can also be used to refer to a larger group consisting of men and women. When we would like to welcome participants of a conference or meeting we can say: „Szanowni państwo! Cieszę się, że państwo przybyli na spotkanie.“ (Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad you have come to the meeting). If you want to ask whether you could join the discussion you say: „Czy państwo pozwolą, że zabiorę głos?” (literally: Will you, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to say something?). And at the end you say: „Dziękuję państwu za uwagę.” (Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your attention).
So which państwo starts with K and has 8 letters?
