Learn how to express possession using pronouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Betsey:Hello everyone and welcome to PolishPod101.com. This is Beginner series, season 1, lesson 13 - Talking Possession in Polish. I’m Betsey. |
| Joanna:And I’m Joanna. |
| Betsey:In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about possessions in Polish. |
| Joanna:This conversation takes place at Jan’s house. |
| Betsey:It’s between Ewa and Jan. |
| Joanna:They’re friends, so they will be using informal Polish. |
| Betsey:Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Jan:To jest mój dom. |
| Ewa:Łał! Jest wielki! |
| Jan:Dzięki. |
| Ewa:Czyja jest ta Honda? |
| Jan:To jest Honda mojego taty. |
| Ewa:A czyj jest ten motocykl? |
| Jan:To jest mój motocykl. |
| Betsey: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Jan:To jest mój dom. |
| Ewa:Łał! Jest wielki! |
| Jan:Dzięki. |
| Ewa:Czyja jest ta Honda? |
| Jan:To jest Honda mojego taty. |
| Ewa:A czyj jest ten motocykl? |
| Jan:To jest mój motocykl. |
| Betsey: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Jan:To jest mój dom. |
| Betsey:This is my house. |
| Ewa:Łał! Jest wielki! |
| Betsey:Wow! It’s huge! |
| Jan:Dzięki. |
| Betsey:Thanks. |
| Ewa:Czyja jest ta Honda? |
| Betsey:Whose Honda is this? |
| Jan:To jest Honda mojego taty. |
| Betsey:This is my dad’s Honda. |
| Ewa:A czyj jest ten motocykl? |
| Betsey:And whose bike is this? |
| Jan:To jest mój motocykl. |
| Betsey:This is my bike. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Betsey:Joanna, what’s the most popular method of transportation in Poland? |
| Joanna:It’s definitely a car. |
| Betsey:At what age can you get a driver’s licence? |
| Joanna:From 18. In Poland, the 18th birthday is a big celebration, because it’s when we come of age. Many people throw big parties and get bigger presents than usual. For example, many parents decide to get a car for their child’s 18th birthday. |
| Betsey:Ok, but what about buses? |
| Joanna:Polish cities have bus networks, which are used mostly by students of all ages and the elderly. |
| Betsey:Why is that? |
| Joanna:Students get a 50% discount on tickets, and if they’re not old enough to drive a car, that’s the best way to get around. Old-age pensioners, on the other hand, can use public transportation for free. |
| Betsey:What if someone wants to travel around Poland? |
| Joanna:Then a car or a train is the best option. The train is usually cheaper, but it will take longer to reach your destination, and unfortunately it will be much less pleasant than if you go by car. |
| Betsey:Listeners, keep that in mind! Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Betsey:Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| :The first word we shall see is Joanna:czyj [natural native speed] |
| Betsey:whose |
| Joanna:czyj [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna:czyj [natural native speed] |
| :Next Joanna:czyja [natural native speed] |
| Betsey:whose |
| Joanna:czyja [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna:czyja [natural native speed] |
| :Next Joanna:dom [natural native speed] |
| Betsey:house, home |
| Joanna:dom [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna:dom [natural native speed] |
| :Next Joanna:ten [natural native speed] |
| Betsey:this (masculine) |
| Joanna:ten [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna:ten [natural native speed] |
| :Next Joanna:ta [natural native speed] |
| Betsey:this (feminine) |
| Joanna:ta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna:ta [natural native speed] |
| :Next Joanna:to [natural native speed] |
| Betsey:this |
| Joanna:to [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna:to [natural native speed] |
| :Next Joanna:wiedzieć [natural native speed] |
| Betsey:to know |
| Joanna:wiedzieć [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna:wiedzieć [natural native speed] |
| :And last Joanna:chyba [natural native speed] |
| Betsey:probably, I guess |
| Joanna:chyba [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Joanna:chyba [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Betsey:Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Joanna:The first word we’ll look at is.... ‘motocykl’ |
| Betsey:“motorbike” |
| Joanna:There’s one more word you can use for this method of transportation. |
| Betsey:I’m all ears! |
| Joanna:‘motor’ |
| Betsey:Is there any difference between those two words? |
| Joanna:Not at all. There’s dispute about whether the word ‘motor’ is correct or not, but it’s still used as often as ‘motocykl’ |
| Betsey:Give us some sample sentences please. |
| Joanna:Okay.‘To jest mój motocykl.’ |
| Betsey:“This is my motorbike” |
| Joanna:‘Ten motor jest bardzo drogi.’ |
| Betsey:“This bike is very expensive” |
| Betsey:Okay, what’s the next word? |
| Joanna:‘samochód’ |
| Betsey:“car” |
| Joanna:In Poland, this noun was chosen through a contest to describe a vehicle that moves on its own power. |
| Betsey:It derives from 2 words, doesn’t it? |
| Joanna:Yes, one of them is ‘sam’, which means... |
| Betsey:...“by itself”. |
| Joanna:And the other is ‘-chód’... |
| Betsey:...which could be translated as “go” |
| Joanna:In the end we get the masculine noun - ‘samochód’, which is a vehicle that moves by itself. And there’s one more word for “a car”, ‘auto’. |
| Betsey:Let’s hear a sample sentence with each of the words for “car”. |
| Joanna:‘to jest dobry samochód’ |
| Betsey:“This is a good car” |
| Joanna:‘’Auto mojego taty jest bardzo stare.’ |
| Betsey:“My dad’s car is very old” |
| Joanna:Ok, let’s move on to the grammar now! |
Lesson focus |
| Betsey:In this lesson, you’ll learn to how to talk about possessions in Polish. |
| Joanna:Yes, but before that, let’s make sure that everyone remembers how to recognize genders in Polish, since that’s going to be very important in this lesson. |
| Betsey:Okay, so masculine nouns usually end with...? |
| Joanna:A consonant! I hope all our listeners knew the answer. |
| Betsey:Let’s hear a few examples of masculine nouns. |
| Joanna:‘nauczyciel’ |
| Betsey:“teacher” |
| Joanna:‘telefon’ |
| Betsey:“phone” |
| Joanna:Ok, now what about feminine nouns? Do you remember? What do they usually end with? |
| Betsey:The vowels “-a” or “-i”. What are some examples? |
| Joanna:‘pielęgniarka’ |
| Betsey:“nurse” |
| Joanna:‘suszarka’ |
| Betsey:“hair-dryer” |
| Joanna:And lastly, the neuter nouns end with the vowels -o, -e, -ę or the syllable -um |
| Betsey:And some examples of these words please. |
| Joanna:‘okno’ |
| Betsey:“window” |
| Joanna:‘słońce’ |
| Betsey:“sun” |
| Joanna:‘imię’ |
| Betsey:“name” |
| Joanna:‘muzeum’ |
| Betsey:“museum” |
| Joanna:So, we revised all of that because it’s very important for forming questions about who a certain object belongs to. |
| Betsey:In English, we use the question word “whose”. How do we say that in Polish? |
| Joanna:In Polish we have three words that stand for the English “whose”, which differ depending on the gender of the noun we are asking about. |
| Betsey:In the dialogue, Ewa asked Jan - “whose bike is this?” |
| Joanna:‘czyj jest ten motocykl?’ |
| Betsey:So, what are the components of this question? |
| Joanna:Well, first we have the interrogative pronoun ‘czyj’ |
| Betsey:which means “whose”... |
| Joanna:...then ‘jest’, the third-person singular form of the verb ‘być’ |
| Betsey:Which stands for “is”. |
| Joanna:Next comes ‘ten’, which is the masculine form of the demonstrative pronoun... |
| Betsey:...which means “this”. Please refer to the lesson notes for a full description of Polish demonstrative pronouns. |
| Joanna:And finally, the masculine noun, which in this case was ‘motocykl’ |
| Betsey:“motorbike” |
| Joanna:So to form questions that ask about a masculine noun, we have to use the pronoun ‘czyj’ |
| Betsey:Okay, now what about feminine nouns? For example - “Whose book is this?” |
| Joanna:‘Czyja jest ta książka?’ |
| Betsey:Here, the interrogative pronoun at the beginning of the question changed. |
| Joanna:Yes, in the case of feminine nouns, we have to use ‘czyja’. Then the rest of the question is built the same way as before. |
| Betsey:But please remember that since we’re asking about a feminine noun - in this case “book”- the demonstrative pronoun also has to be in feminine form. |
| Joanna:Exactly. Now, the pronoun we will use when asking about a neuter noun is ‘czyje’ |
| Betsey:How would you say “Whose fountain pen is this?” |
| Joanna:‘Czyje jest to pióro?’ |
| Betsey:Again, the structure of the question stays the same. |
| Joanna:Yes, and here we also have to make sure to use the demonstrative pronoun in neuter form. |
| Betsey:Let’s sum up. Listeners, Joanna will say the pronoun in Polish. Try to say which gender we use it for, before I do. |
| Joanna:‘czyj’ |
| Betsey:….......... masculine |
| Joanna:‘czyja’ |
| Betsey:….......... feminine |
| Joanna:‘czyje’ |
| Betsey:…........... neuter |
| Joanna:Now let’s try something more difficult. Listeners, try asking this kind of question using the noun ‘notes’ |
| Betsey:... which means “notebook”. But Joanna, please give us at least a small hint! |
| Joanna:okay, ‘notes’ is a masculine noun. |
| Betsey:[pause] Okay, did you get it right? Let’s hear how the question should sound. |
| Joanna:‘czyj jest ten notes?’ |
| Betsey:“whose notebook is this?” |
| Joanna:Answering questions like this is very easy in Polish, so be sure to check out the lesson notes. |
| Betsey:Thanks for listening, and don’t miss the next lesson in which we will learn... |
| Joanna:..how to talk about your pets! |
| Betsey:That just about does it for this lesson. We’ll see you next time, listeners! |
| Joanna:Do widzenia. |
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