LC Polish flashcards
LC Polish · Build recall with a focused review session.
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- Penultimate stress rule
- In Polish, stress normally falls on the second-to-last syllable of a word, e.g. 'komputer' → kom-PU-ter. Exceptions include -yka/-ika nouns and some loanwords.
- Final devoicing
- Voiced consonants at the end of a word become voiceless in Polish: 'chleb' sounds like 'chlep', 'Bóg' like 'buk'. This affects how case endings are heard.
- Nasal ą before stops
- The letter ą is pronounced as a nasalized [ɔ] before fricatives but as [ɔn] before stops and affricates, e.g. 'kąt' → [kɔnt], 'ząb' → [zɔmp].
- ł pronounced as w
- Modern standard Polish pronounces 'ł' as [w], like English 'w': 'był' → [bɨw], 'ładny' → [wadnɨ]. Some older speakers retain a dark [ɫ].
- Half past in Polish
- 'Wpół do' plus the genitive of the next hour means half past the previous hour: 'wpół do trzeciej' = 2:30, literally 'half to three'.
- Verb aspect pairs
- Polish verbs come in imperfective/perfective pairs: 'czytać/przeczytać', 'pisać/napisać'. Perfective verbs describe completed actions and have no present tense form.
- Genitive after negation
- A negated transitive verb takes its object in the genitive instead of the accusative: 'Mam książkę' (acc.) becomes 'Nie mam książki' (gen.).
- Seven Polish cases
- Polish nouns, adjectives, and pronouns inflect for nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative. Case is governed by verbs, prepositions, and negation.
- Preposition do + genitive
- 'Do' (to, into) always governs the genitive: 'do domu', 'do szkoły', 'do Polski'. It is used for destination and for 'to' before people's homes.
- Conditional with bym
- The conditional is formed by adding clitics bym, byś, by, byśmy, byście, by to a past-tense form: 'zrobiłbym' = 'I would do (it)'.
- Masculine noun ending
- Masculine nouns typically end in a consonant in the nominative singular: 'dom', 'stół', 'kot'. Exceptions include 'mężczyzna' (man) and 'tata' (dad).
- Formal letter opening
- Begin a formal Polish letter with 'Szanowny Panie' (Dear Sir), 'Szanowna Pani' (Dear Madam), or 'Szanowni Państwo' (Dear Sir/Madam), followed by a comma.
- Formal letter closing
- End a formal Polish letter with 'Z poważaniem' (Yours sincerely) followed by your name. Informal letters close with 'Pozdrawiam' or 'Ściskam'.
- Polish decimal comma
- Polish uses a comma as the decimal separator: 3,14 (pi). Thousands are separated by a space: 1 000 000. Do not use English decimal points.
- Polish quotation marks
- Standard Polish quotation marks are „…” (low opening mark, high closing mark). Nested quotations use »…« or '…' inside the main quotation.
- Comma before że
- A comma is required before the conjunction 'że' (that) in Polish: 'Myślę, że…'. The same applies before 'który', 'gdy', 'ponieważ', and 'ale'.
- Date format in Polish
- Dates are written day + month in genitive + year + r.: '1 maja 2024 r.'. Month names are lower-case in running text: 'w styczniu'.
- Essay connectors
- Useful Polish connectors: 'po pierwsze' (firstly), 'ponadto' (moreover), 'jednakże' (however), 'dlatego' (therefore), 'podsumowując' (to sum up).
- Formal request phrase
- 'Zwracam się z prośbą o…' means 'I am writing to request…'. It is a standard opening for formal Polish letters and emails.
- Szanowny Panie
- The standard formal Polish salutation for a man: 'Szanowny Panie' (Dear Sir). For a woman use 'Szanowna Pani'; for a mixed group 'Szanowni Państwo'.
- Dzień dobry
- The standard Polish greeting used throughout the day in formal situations. 'Cześć' is informal and used with friends and peers.
- Pan and Pani
- Polish polite address uses 'Pan' for men and 'Pani' for women with third-person verbs: 'Czy Pan mówi po polsku?'. Use 'ty' only with friends and family.
- Introducing yourself
- Say 'Nazywam się…' (My name is…) or 'Jestem…' (I am…). The polite reply is 'Miło mi' (Nice to meet you).
- Polite request with mógłby
- 'Czy mógłby Pan…?' (Could you, Sir…?) is a polite request form using the conditional. For a woman use 'Czy mogłaby Pani…?'.
- Expressing opinion
- 'Moim zdaniem…' (In my opinion…) or 'Uważam, że…' (I think that…) introduce opinions. Agreement: 'Zgadzam się'; disagreement: 'Nie zgadzam się'.
- Telephone phrases
- On the phone: 'Halo?' (Hello?), 'Słucham?' (Speaking?), 'Czy zastałem Pana X?' (Is Mr X available?), 'Już łączę' (Connecting you).
- Złoty declension with numbers
- The currency noun changes with the number: 1 złoty, 2–4 złote, 5 and above złotych. The same pattern applies to grosz: 1 grosz, 2 grosze, 5 groszy.
- Repair phrases
- When you do not understand, say 'Przepraszam, nie zrozumiałem/nie zrozumiałam' or 'Czy może Pan powtórzyć?'. These keep the conversation going politely.
- Instrumental with z
- The preposition 'z' (with) governs the instrumental case: 'z kolegą' (with a friend), 'z herbatą' (with tea). It also marks accompaniment.
- Locative after w
- 'W' (in) governing location takes the locative: 'w domu' (at home), 'w Polsce' (in Poland). With motion, 'w' can take the accusative: 'idę w góry'.
- Aspect and future
- Perfective verbs have no present tense; their present forms refer to the future: 'napiszę' means 'I will write'. Imperfective future uses 'będę' + infinitive.
- Word order and clitics
- Polish clitics such as mi, ci, się, and by attach to the second position in a clause: 'Dał mi książkę' (He gave me a book). New information tends to come last.