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
Today, we're going to work on getting your package one step closer to its intended destination. In the previous lesson, we discussed the phrase "I (male) would like to send this package to Italy," which was Chciałbym wysłać tę paczkę do Włoch. Of course, the location is interchangeable.
When sending a package, though, you will probably have to explain what's in the package.
They may even ask you, "What's in the package?" In Polish, this is Co jest w paczce? The first word co means "what." Next, we have jest, meaning "is."
Finally, we have w paczce, which is the Polish equivalent of "in the package." To recap here, we have Co jest w paczce? "What's in the package?" If you want to be sure to name all the things you are sending correctly, English is perfectly acceptable.
Another way in which they can ask you "What's in the package?" is Jaka jest zawartość paczki? This means, "What is the content of the package?" The first word jaka means, "what...like?" This is followed by jest ("is").
Then we have zawartość, which stands for "content."
The question ends with the word paczki, meaning "of the package."
All together, we have: Jaka jest zawartość paczki? This literally means, "What is the content of the package?"
The interrogative pronoun jaka has two other forms in the singular: jaki and jakie. Jaki?, Jaka?, and Jakie? are all used to ask the question, "what is something like."
They are declined like adjectives.
The only difference between them is their gender.
We use jaki? to ask about masculine nouns, jaka? about feminine, and jakie? about neuter nouns.
Let's have a look at some examples. If you would like to ask, "What is this table like?" you would say, Jaki jest ten stół? We have to use jaki because the noun stół is masculine. If you would like to inquire about a book, you would say Jaka jest ta książka? "What is this book like?" Książka is feminine, that's why we have to use the form jaka. Use the jakie form in questions about neuter nouns such as Jakie jest to muzeum? "What is this museum like?" Muzeum is neuter, so the interrogative pronoun has to be jakie.
Cultural Insights
Buying stamps in Poland is very simple. You can purchase stamps at poczta. You only have to say, Proszę znaczek. ("A stamp, please.") Proszę znaczek. Remembering your numbers comes in handy here, as they will most likely ask you how many you want.
So if you want to buy, let's say, three stamps, your response will be trzy ("three").

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.
"I (male) would like to send this package to Italy." - Chciałbym wysłać tę paczkę do Włoch.
Chciałbym wysłać tę paczkę do Włoch.
Chciałbym wysłać tę paczkę do Włoch.
"What's in the package?" - Co jest w paczce?
Co jest w paczce?
Co jest w paczce?
"What is the content of the package?" - Jaka jest zawartość paczki?
Jaka jest zawartość paczki?
Jaka jest zawartość paczki?
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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