Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to Polish Survival Phrases brought to you by PolishPod101.com, this course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Poland. You will be surprised at how far a little Polish will go.
Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by PolishPod101.com and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

Lesson focus
Now we will show you some useful Survival Phrases for your funny days of unchecked shopping around Polish stores.
You should remember that Przepraszam, or "Excuse me," is almost always the first thing to say when asking for information. After saying Przepraszam, you should say Ile to kosztuje? ("How much is this?")
Ile stands for both "how much" and "how many." Of course, in our context we need to translate ile as "how much." We follow ile with to, meaning "this." To.
The last component of our phrase is kosztuje, which means "costs." Kosztuje comes from the verb kosztować ("to cost").
The question, Ile to kosztuje? is perfect in situations when you don't know the name of the object you're trying to buy.
You can just point at it and say Ile to kosztuje? or "How much is this?"
However, if you know the name of the object you want to buy, you can be very specific.
For example, let's say you want to buy a particular t-shirt.
You'll ask Ile kosztuje ten podkoszulek? ("How much is this t-shirt?")
Let's break this sentence down. We again have ile, meaning "how much."
Then we have kosztuje ("costs").
Then we have ten podkoszulek, which means "this t-shirt."
As we mentioned before, in Polish there are three genders in the singular: masculine (m.), feminine (f.), and neutral (n.).
Depending on the gender of the noun in the singular, "this" in Polish has three possible forms when standing next to the noun.
Let's look at these forms.
Ten means "this" when describing masculine nouns. In our sentence above, we had ten podkoszulek. Podkoszulek is masculine; that's why we used ten ("this").
Ta also means "this," but we only use it when describing feminine nouns as in ta koszula ("this shirt"). Koszula is feminine, so we have to use ta. Another example is Ile kosztuje ta koszula? or "How much is this shirt?"
The last form of "this" in the singular is to, and it's reserved for neutral nouns such as piwo ("beer"). Ile kosztuje to piwo? ("How much is this beer?")
When it comes to the plural form, "these," if you would like to ask for the price of, let's say shoes, you should say Ile kosztują te buty? Let's look at this sentence. We start the sentence again with ile, and then we have kosztują.
Please notice that this time we have kosztują because we're talking about shoes, which is plural.
Then we have te, which stands for "these."
The last word is buty, meaning "shoes."

Outro
Okay, to close out this lesson, we'd like you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for shouting it aloud.
You have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so powodzenia, which means “good luck” in Polish.
"How much is this?" - Ile to kosztuje?
Ile to kosztuje?
Ile to kosztuje?
"How much is this t-shirt?" - Ile kosztuje ten podkoszulek?
Ile kosztuje ten podkoszulek?
Ile kosztuje ten podkoszulek?
"How much is this shirt?" - Ile kosztuje ta koszula?
Ile kosztuje ta koszula?
Ile kosztuje ta koszula?
"How much is this beer?" - Ile kosztuje to piwo?
Ile kosztuje to piwo?
Ile kosztuje to piwo?
"How much are these shoes?" - Ile kosztują te buty?
Ile kosztują te buty?
Ile kosztują te buty?
All right, that's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by PolishPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

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