PAŃSTWO KOWALSCY (Mr and Mrs Kowalski) in PAŃSTWO POLSKIE (Polish state)

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?

INFLECTION OF NOUNS ENDING IN –UM

NOUNS OF LATIN ORIGIN IN THE POLISH LANGUAGE 
Recently we have talked about the nouns that are uninflected in Polish (check here for details), and now the good news continues. In the Polish language there is a large group of nouns of Latin origin ending in –um (by the way, remember that they are neuter gender), which do not inflect, either, BUT only in the singular form. Try to recall some of those words, you’ve had them in your Polish lessons... Do you know now? Yes, they are: muzeum, liceum, gimnazjum, akwarium, atrium, terytorium, kolokwium, technikum, etc. When in singular form, they do not inflect, so we can say: Idę do muzeum historycznego (I’m going to a historical museum)/ Dzięki muzeum historycznemu mogłam poznać historię miasta (Thanks to the historical museum I have learned the history of the city)/ Lubię to muzeum historyczne (I like this historical museum)/ Współpracujemy z tym muzeum historycznym (We cooperate with this historical museum)/Spotkamy się w muzeum historycznym (We’re going to meet at the historical museum).

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DECLENSION OF PLURAL FORM OF NOUNS ENDING IN –UM
Unfortunately, it gets more complicated when we need to use those nouns in the plural form, but let’s not lose heart! You’ll see that it’s not as difficult as it seems. To są małę muzea (These are small museums)/ Nie wyobrażam sobie wakacji bez zwiedzamia małych muzeów (I can't imagine a holiday without visiting small museums) / Dzięki tym małym muzeom poznałam interesujące fakty (Thanks to these small museums I have learned some interesting facts) / Lubię małe muzea (I like small museums) / Współpracujemy z małymi muzeami (We cooperate with small museums) / Byliśmy w małych muzeach (We’ve been to small museums).
Easy, isn’t it? You definitely know all the above endings, they are the regular endings of the plural form of other nouns. Will you now think more warmly of the Polish declension?:)

TARG, BAZAR, RYNEK, OR WHERE TO DO THE SHOPPING

SHOPPING AFTER A LESSON OF POLISH
Shopping is a great opportunity to practise the vocabulary you have learned in Polish courses (more on shopping in Polish here). But how to do that if we are surrounded by supermarkets, where we hardly need to communicate, and buying things online these days is... a piece of cake? The easiest way to do that is to go to a targ (market). But ... wait... targ or bazar? Well, it depends what part of Poland we are in. The inhabitants of southern Poland go to a targ, and the inhabitants of central Poland go to a bazar (in Cracow, for instance, they have Targ na Kleparzu and you can go to Bazar Różyckiego in Warsaw) Both words refer to a place where people buy and sell goods, mostly food, in the open air. The word bazar is derived from the Persian language and its variants are commonly used in many other languages, and in the Polish language it probably appeared  through Turkish. This noun is often used to describe a place here you can buy not only food but also clothes and other everyday objects.

WHERE DOES THE WORD TARG COME FROM?
Targ came into Polish from behind the southern border (our Czech neighbours use the word trh) and became the root of the verb targować się (negocjować cenę, to haggle over the price of something), component of the phrase pchli targ or targ staroci (flea market) and expressions targ rybny (fish market), targ warzywny (vegetable market) or targ koński (horse market), which you can encounter while reading a guidebook. Let us not forget about the plural form, targi, which refers to exhibitions, trade shows, fairs, e.g. targi książki (book fair), targi mieszkaniowe (housing fair), targi pracy (job fair) etc.

                         Targ or bazar? More on Polish vocabulary and grammar on our FB profile

„MARKET PROBLEMS“ OF STUDENTS OF POLISH
Polish people sometimes say Kupiłam te pomidory na rynku (I bought these tomatoes at the market), by which they confuse foreigners, who have heard the word many times before on holiday trips. In fact,  in the modern Polish language the noun rynek (market square) refers to the central, historical part of a town or city. Let us not forget, however, that in the old days it was in this part of town that people bought and sold goods (hence they have Rynek Solny, the salt market, in Wrocław). Later, the word rynek has taken on a broader meaning, and, the same as in other languages, it is now also an economic term, e.g. rynek pracy (job market), rynek nieruchomości (real estate market), rynek finansowy (financial market), wolny rynek (free market), czarny rynek (black market), etc.
Next time you go shopping, pay attention to what the locals call the place where you can not only do the shopping, but also practise your Polish.

THE WINTER CAPITAL OF POLAND

WINTERTIME MADNESS

Summer is not the only time that encourages people to take some time off work and relax, or attend an intensive course of the Polish language. As we all know, any time of the year is good enough to learn a language, regardless of the season.
When winter comes, it’s time for białe szaleństwo (witness madness), which means ferie or urlop na nartach (skiing holidays), and if you don’t know what the difference between ferie and urlop is, please check out the previous blog entry.
You might go skiing in the Alps, or in one of the skiing resorts of Poland.

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SKI MECCA 

Zakopane, a town located 85 km south of Cracow, has long been and will probably long remain the ski Mecca for both Polish and foreign skiers. It has been called the winter capital of Poland for a long time. Once you’re there, you’ll understand what it owes its name to. Besides being one of the largest winter sports resort in the country, it’s also beautifully  located, thanks to which you can admire the mightiness of the mountains.
In Zakopane there are routes for advanced skiers and for those, who have just started their skiing adventure. If you haven’t tried skiing before, you can get ski lessons given by experienced instructors.
Even if you don’t ski, you should definitely take the cable car to the top of Kasprowy Wierch (1987m above sea level) to enjoy the panoramic view of the Tatra Mountains.
You will experience amazing emotions while watching the Ski Jumping World Cup. At the end of January Zakopane hosts fans of ski jumping. They go there to cheer the skiers on in the competition that is held on Wielka Krokiew, which is the largest ski jump in Poland.

GRZANIEC IN KRUPÓWKI

When you feel tired from sports emotions, skiing, snow and cold, we recommend going for a walk along Krupówki, the most representative street of Zakopane. While there you must try grzaniec (mulled wine, hot wine with spices and honey), or góralska herbata z prądem (literally: highland tea with electricity, which is tea with alcohol). Try the traditional dishes of Podhale cuisine, which are known and liked by people from all over Poland. Finally, go to the Tatra Museum to get to know the art and culture of the inhabitants of Podhale, which has long fascinated not only the Poles, but also foreigners who come here.
While in Zakopane you are bound to hear the dialect used by the native inhabitants of the region. Besides the dialect, they also speak Polish very well, so you’ll be able to practise your Polish and the declension: jestem w Zakopanem, przyjechaliśmy do Zakopanego, or Zakopanemu trudno się oprzeć, jest takie piękne - Zakopane is so beautiful that you can’t resist it (more on Polish grammar you can learn in courses of Polish for foreigners).

MINISTROWIE or MINISTRY? STRUGGLING WITH THE PLURAL FORM OF MASCULINE PERSONAL NOUNS

TWO PLURAL FORMS IN THE POLISH LANGUAGE 

What is the plural form of the noun minister?  This question is asked by many foreigners attening courses of Polish as a foreign language.
In principle, the plural form in Polish is regular, but... There is a but. There are two forms of plural in the Polish grammar, for non-masculine personal and masculine personal nouns. The former are regular in most cases: koleżanka, but dwie koleżanki, kot but dwa koty, piwo, but dwa piwa, fotel, but dwa fotele etc. The latter cause more problems. Should we say profesorowie or profesory, dziadowie or dziady? Polish people use both forms, which makes things even more complicated. Let’s look into that to answer the questions which of the forms is the correct one.

NEUTRAL AND DEPRECIATIVE FORMS OF NOUNS

Interestingly, in theory, every masculine personal noun in the nominative and vocative case of the plural form may take both above-mentioned forms. However, the ones that take the same form as the non-masculine personal nouns, are of depreciative kind. They are potentially possible, but rarely in use. Several of them, however, are in quite frequent use, e.g. profesory, policjanty, ministry. They express a great deal of negative emotions. Therefore, if we want to emphasise our respect for the ministers, we should say dobrzy ministrowie. We should use the personal masculine form of the adjective in the plural form accordlingly. However, if we want to make sure your listeners or interlocutors understand that you believe the people in question do not deserve to be in the position, you’ll use the form ministry, and the adjective will take the non-masculine personal form.
It’s woth noting that only some nouns take a different ending to distinguish the negative meaning form the neutral one (the above-mentioned ministrowie, but also dziadowie meaning ancestors, and dziady meaning beggars, the poor). In most cases it is the adjective or the verb (you can find the right forms of verbs on websites with conjugations) that „does the trick“, and that’s why we can say both: to byli znani burżuje and to były znane burżuje.
Let’s not forget that these forms are common for the spoken language, and should be avoided in the correct Polish language.

POLISH AND THE SLAVIC LANGUAGES

The plural form of nouns is quite hard for the Slavs, who try to make the plural forms based on the rules of their native languages. For them, the words like Polaki or Francuzy sound neutral, while for the Poles they sound offensive, since the correct forms are Polacy and Francuzi. Therefore, you’d better make sure by asking the teacher or look the form up in a dictionary. If you want to know more about the Polish language, check it out here.

SZUKAM CIĘ or SZUKAM CIEBIE?

PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN THE POLISH LANGUAGE

Both Polish native speakers and learners of Polish as a foreign language make mistakes when using the personal pronouns. The foreigners who have already learnt to use the pronouns correctly get confused when they hear the Polish saying things like: „szukam ciebie“ (I’ve been looking for you), „potrzebuję ciebie“ (I need you), „pożyczyłem jemu“ (I’ve lent him) and so on. The Polish we’re talking about are not only your colleagues or people you meet in the street, unfortunately, also those who appear in the media. Having heard the native speakers say that, the students return to the classroom convinced that they must have misunderstood something the teacher had said. But no, there’s no misunderstanding here. The truth is that the Polish make those mistakes repeatedly. And the rule is fairly easy to follow.

POLISH GRAMMAR: COMMON DOUBTS

In some cases the personal pronouns take a few forms. Let’s take the genitive case, for instance. The pronoun „ty“ (you singular) used in the genitive case takes the forms ciebie/cię; „on“ (he) – niego/go/jego; „ona“ (she) – niej/jej. It’s almost the same story with the accusative case but for the forms of „ona, which are ją/nią in this case. In the dative case the pronoun „ja“ takes the forms mi/mnie, and „on“ – mu/niemu/jemu. All the abovementioned forms are correct, all you need to know is when to use them, i.e. in which structures they appear. Let’s take a look at some examples which are often given in Polish classes:

Czekam na niego już pół godziny  (I’ve been waiting for him for half an hour)
Lubię go  (I like him)
Znam go bardzo dobrze.  (I know him very well)
Marek? Marek? Moment… Jego nie znam. (Mare? Marek? Wait a minute... I don’t know him – literally: HIM I do not know)

Bez ciebie to nie ma sensu. (Without you there’s no point)
To dla ciebie. (This is for you)
Szukam cię. (I’ve been looking for you)
Potrzebuję cię. (I need you)
Ciebie?! Ciebie nie chcę znać! (You?! I don’t want to know YOU)

Długo mi dziękował. (He thanked me for a long time)
Mnie? O, nie! Mnie nikt nie dziękował. (Me? Oh, no! No one has thanked ME)
Dzięki mnie to zrobił. (He was able to do that thanks to me)

USING THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS: THE RULE

Do you get the rule? Yes! You’re right!
The short pronoun forms, such as mi-cię-go-ją etc. are used IMMEDIATELY after the verb. The long form, e.g. mnie-ciebie-niego-nią we use AFTER THE PREPOSITION („patrzę na ciebie“ – I’m looking at you; „czekam na ciebie“ – I’ve been waiting for you; „boję się o niego“ – I’m worried about him; „odpowiem za nich“ – I’ll answer for them). We also use them when we want to emphasize something: „Jego nie znam“ (I don’t know HIM), „Ją, w przeciwieństwie do Basi, bardzo polubiłam“ (HER, unlike Basia, I got to like a lot – the emphasis is on HER), „Mnie nikt o zgodę nie pytał!“ (No one has asked ME for permission!). In case of emphasis the pronoun is often put at the very beginning of the sentence.
Let’s not forget a few simple rules. It’s nicer to hear „Kocham cię“ (I love you) than „Kocham ciebie“, „Słuchałem cię z przyjemnością“ (I’ve been listening to you with pleasure) than „Słuchałem ciebie z przyjemnością“, „pożyczę mu ten samochód“ (I’ll lend him the car) than „pożyczę jemu ten samochód“, isn‘t it?

DZIĘKI CI – WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

>OK<, the students often say, >We have a sentence: „Jego nigdy nie polubię“ (I’ll never take a fancy to him), but what about „To jest jego żona“, where the pronoun is not used at the beginning of the sentence?< That’s true, but the pronoun used in the second sentence is the possessive pronoun, which is a completely different type.
Great. Then what about „Dzięki ci“? Isn’t that supposed to be „dzięki tobie“? Well, yes and no. „Dzięki tobie mogłem to zrobić“ (I was able to do that thanks to you, here „dzięki“ is a preposition in the dative case).
„Dzięki ci“ is a colloqial way of saying „dziękuję ci“, and the expression is a nonchalant and not really correct equivalent of the latter, which is commonly used, though.

But, as one of my students has wittily pointed out, there are circumstances in which we can use both versions. We can say“ „Czekam na niego“ (I’ve been waiting for HIM), but also „Czekam na go“. Only that the latter means something totally different, doesn’t it? :) [wordplay: na go (the wrong use of „go“ instead of „niego“) and nago (spelt as one word means „naked“, so we get the sentence meaning „I’m waiting, naked“ :)]

If you feel like practising the personal pronouns and not only, see: application Polish for Foreigners, also for Android, iOS and iPad