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Showing posts from April, 2022

Recognising adjectives formed from nouns

Masculine nominative forms of adjectives often, but not always, end with the suffix -owy after the noun. See the following examples analogowy     -     analog cyfrowy     -     digital czekoladowy     -     chocolate czosnkowy     -    czosn e k     -     garlic domowy     -     domestic filmowy     -     film / movie internetowy     -     internet kawowy     -     coffee napędowy     -     propulsive / drive (eg: wał napędowy) ogrodowy     -     garden plenerowy     -     open air / outdoor pociągowy     -     rail / train pomarańczowy     -    pomarańcz a    -    orange samochodowy     -     car spacerowy     -     strolling (less common than pieszy) waniliowy     -     vanilla webowy     -     web wojskowy - military (wojsko - army) Obviously there are plenty of adjectives with other endings: apteczny     -     Pharmacy królewski     -     royal / regal kuchenny     -     kitchen literacki     -     literary miejski     -     city / urban / civic morski     -     maritime / marine /

Brać / Wziąć - to take

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Boli mnie głowa, więc powinnam wziąć tabletkę - I have a headache, so I should take a tablet Brać, imperfective form     /     Wziąć, perfective form Wzięłem ♂ / Wzięłam ♀ już dziś tabletkę - I've already taken a tablet today. The past perfective form seems more useful when taking tablets because it is such a quick activity, it is completed very quickly.  The present imperfective form could be used to say you take tablets for a condition. Biorę tabletki na nadciśnienie - I take tablets for hypertension. Brać / Wziąć have other meanings apart from taking medication, depending on context. Such as taking with your hands (grabbing), taking advantage of something, to overcome an obstacle and to have sex. Note that the perfective verb, zabrać, might look like it is the perfective form of brać and seems an easier option than wziąć, but it is the perfective form of zabierać and cannot be used in the context of taking medication.  It does mean to take, but in other ways.  See Zabrać  

To roast - piec / upiec

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As a verb,  piec is the imperfective form upiec is the perfective form I am an Englishman, therefore... piekę wołowinę     -     I am roasting beef piekłem wołowinę     -     I was roasting beef upiekłem wołowinę     -     I roasted beef będę piec wołowinę     -     I'll be roasting beef upiekę* wołowinę     -     I'll roast beef      [*amended, dzięki Tomaszowi]

Ręka - hand or arm

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I read that ręka can mean both hand and the whole arm, including the hand.  I wondered: in what situations would it be clear what was meant by ręka. Daj mi rękę - I am told means: give me your hand. Informally, the word łapa  (like an animal's paw) is used in phrases like: Trzymać coś w łapie     -     to hold something in the hand Iść pod rękę     -     To walk arm in arm or hand in hand Iść z kimś za rękę     -     I think also means walking either hand in hand or arm in arm. So how do we differentiate? How about the two different injuries inflicted in the scenes from two very different films: Odciął mu rękę could be applied to both, but may suggest the whole arm. Odciął mu dłoń should make it clear it is the hand.  Dłoń can mean palm or hand Odciął mu ramię should make it clear the cut was at the shoulder. Shoulder... now there is another thing that can also be unclear to English speakers... See this post  

Shoulder - bark / ramię

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Dictionaries give the translation of shoulder for both bark and ramię .  So, what is the difference between bark and ramię ?  Here's what I have found from asking around and reading up. I believe ramię refers to the upper arm, including the deltoid muscle.  Bark describes the broader area of the shoulder.  I believe it can describe the deltoid area of the upper arm, the trapezius area, (from the base of the neck outwards) and the shoulder blade collectively or individually. Both words can be used to describe the same area of the upper arm.  Someone, regarding their flu or covid vaccination, would say that the location of their jab was ramię  but if hit hurts later, they may say: Boli mnie bark po szczepieniu. Szczepieniu is the locative form of szczepienie - vaccination.