Polski raz a dobrze. Polish for Foreigners. Stanisław Mędak

298.

      Kto to (jest) ? → To (jest ) dyrektor.

      → To (jest) dziewczyna.

      → To (jest) dziecko.

      ■ The noun – grammatical genders.

      In the Polish language there are three genders: masculine*, feminine and neuter.

      ■ Masculine nouns in N. sg. usually do not have any endings (they end in a consonant, i.e. np. bilet, kot, dyrektor, tydzień). There are a small number of masculine nouns with the ending –a, np. kolega, sprzedawca.

      ■ Feminine nouns in N. sg. usually end in the vowel –a, np. dziewczyna, Polska; rarely –i, e.g. pani.

      ■ Neuter nouns in N. sg. end in the vowel –o, –e, np. dziecko, życie; rarely in the vowel –ę, e.g. the word imię. Neuter nouns of Latin origin have the ending –um, e.g. liceum and in the singular they are uninflected. For details, see Lesson 9 on page 89.

      ■ Important note!

      *The masculine gender (in the book abbreviated to m.) is divided into three groups. SINGULAR: 1. masculine–personal, e.g. dyrektor (abbreviated as mos.), 2. masculine–inanimate, e.g. bilet, tydzień (abbreviated to m. inanim.), 3. masculine–animate, e.g. kot (abbreviated to m.anim.). PLURAL: 1. masculine–personal (abbreviated to m. prs.), 2. nonmasculine–personal (abbreviated to nm. prs.).

      ■ Demonstrative pronouns

      ten, ta, to

      The demonstrative pronouns ten ta, to indicate an object or a property of the object which we want to define more closely, or the one we indicate by means of appropriate gestures. In the plural te – for nonmasculine–personal gender; ci – for masculine–personal gender.

      m. ten (dyrektor, podręcznik)

      f. ta (dziewczyna, książka)

      n. to (życie, dziecko, ćwiczenie)

      Examples:

      Ten student nazywa się Edgar Betraff. Ta recepcjonistka ma na imię Marta. To dziecko jest małe.

      ■ Functions of the word to in sentences

      to

      It is worth knowing that the word to has several functions in Polish:

      1. It points generally to a thing, person, phenomenon or situation, which the speaker and listener identify in the context of the conversation or of what was said earlier. It replaces the subject or an object. No plural. Examples: To (jest) Edgar Betraff. / To (jest) recepcjonistka. / To (jest) dziecko.

      2. It replaces the auxilliary word być. Examples: Warszawa to stolica Polski. / Kto to? → To ja.

      3. It links sentences. Example: Daj mi samochód, to pojadę na zakupy.

      4. It indicates the speaker’s emotional attitude. Example: Kto to przyszedł?!

      ■ Personal pronouns

      It’s worth knowing

      * Plural forms – see Lesson 5, page 58.

      ** The symbol – ø used in this book indicates no ending, which is characteristic of e.g. the Nominative function of the word dyrektor, whereas the forms of the word in the other cases have their own endings, e.g. G. – dyrektora, D. – dyrektorowi etc.

      czy

      The question with the word czy, which refers to an unknown action, for example:

      Czy to jest Edgar? is answered with tak or nie. → Tak. To jest Edgar. → Nie. To nie jest Edgar. To jest Piotr.; Czy życie nie jest piękne? → Tak. Życie jest piękne.; Nie. Życie jest coraz trudniejsze. This word is always used at the beginning of the question, before the verb.

      jak

      This word is used in questions which are a form of request to the interlocutor, e.g. to give their first and last name, as in Jak się Pan nazywa? → Nazywam się Stanisław Mędak. For more information, see Lesson 7, page 67.

      nie + verb

      Agata nie nazywa się Green. Agata nazywa się Nowak.

      The verb is negated with the word nie, which is always used before the verb. The word nie and the verb are written as separate words.

      Important note

      rok 2011 We read: dwa tysiące jedenasty; L. – w roku dwa tysiące jedenastym.

Exercises

      1. Please answer the questions as in the example.

      Answer key

      Example:

      Jak nazywa się Edgar? Edgar nazywa się Betraff.

      1. Jak nazywa się dyrektor? Dyrektor ............................ .................................... .

      2. Jak nazywa się Fundacja? Fundacja ........................... .................................... .

      3. Jak nazywa się Agata? Agata ............................... ...................................... .

      4. Jak nazywa się Marta? Marta ............................... ...................................... .

      5. Jak (ty) się nazywasz? (ja) .................................. ...................................... .

      2. Please choose the appropriate nouns and write them in the blanks.

      Answer key

      Example:

      Kto to jest pan Green? Pan Green to dyrektor (student, dyrektor, recepcjonista).

      1. Kto to jest Marta? Marta to .................. (dyrektorka, recepcjonistka, studentka).

      2. Kto to jest Agata? Agata to ............................... (dyrektor, Polka, Amerykanka).

      3. Kto to jest Edgar? Edgar to .............................. (dyrektor, Amerykanin, student).

      3. Please write the Polish equivalents of English expressions given below.

      Answer key

      Example:

      Good morning. Dzień dobry.

      1. Who is it? ................... .

      2. Thank you. ................... .

      3. See you. ................... .

      4. Edgar, it’s you?! ................... .

      4. Please write the appropriate names as in the example.