Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

Let’s take a closer look at the conversation.
Do you remember how Mark asks,
"Are you a student?"
Jest pan studentem?
First is jest. "are." Jest. Jest.
Jest is from the verb być meaning "to be", conjugated in the third person singular in Polish. Być.
Next is pan, "Mr." which replaces "you" when using formal Polish. Pan. Pan.
Note, in Polish, the honorific Mr. or Mrs. are used to create the polite form.
The formal title is determined by the gender of the conversation partner. If the partner is female, the title would be pani.
Next is studentem, "student." Studentem. Studentem.
In Polish, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Student is masculine singular. Studentem is the noun student declined in the instrumental case.
All together, Jest pan studentem? Literally "Is Mr. a student?" but it translates as "Are you a student?"
Jest pan studentem?
Now, let's take a closer look at the response.
Do you remember how Maciej says,
"No, I'm not a student. I'm an investor."
Nie, nie jestem studentem. Jestem inwestorem.
First is the expression, nie, meaning, "no." Nie. Nie.
It answers Mark's yes-or-no question, "Are you a student?" Jest pan studentem?
After this, Maciej specifies that he’s not a student. Nie jestem studentem. "I'm not a student." Nie jestem studentem.
First is nie, "not." Nie. Nie.
Next is jestem. "[I] am." Jestem. Jestem.
Note: here jestem is a shortened form of ja jestem, "I am." In Polish, ja, I, is usually omitted, as it’s understood from context.
Jestem is from the verb być, meaning "to be." Być.
Together, it's nie jestem, literally "Not I am," but it translates as "I'm not." Nie jestem.
Next is Studentem. "Student." Studentem.
All together, Nie jestem studentem. "I'm not a student." Nie jestem studentem.
Maciej then tells Mark his actual occupation. Jestem inwestorem. "I'm an investor." Jestem inwestorem.
First, jestem "[I] am." Jestem.
After this is Inwestorem, "investor [man]." Inwestorem. Inwestorem.
Inwestorem is from the noun, inwestor, "investor." Inwestor. Notice how the ending changes. Inwestor becomes inwestorem in this sentence. Inwestorem is in this case because it follows jestem.
The grammatical term here is the instrumental case.
Together, Jestem inwestorem. "I'm an investor." Jestem inwestorem.
All together, Nie, nie jestem studentem. Jestem inwestorem.
"No, I'm not a student. I'm an investor."
Nie, nie jestem studentem. Jestem inwestorem.
The pattern is
Nie, nie jestem OCCUPATION. Jestem ACTUAL OCCUPATION.
"No, I'm not OCCUPATION. I'm ACTUAL OCCUPATION."
Nie, nie jestem OCCUPATION. Jestem ACTUAL OCCUPATION.
To use this pattern, simply replace the OCCUPATION and ACTUAL OCCUPATION placeholders with the occupations that are appropriate to the conversation.
Note: This pattern requires nouns in the instrumental case. In most cases, the noun used to describe the occupations will depend on the gender of the speaker. For example, student would be used by a male student and studentka would be used by a female student.
Imagine you’re Emma Englot a student. The word for a female student is studentka. Studentka. Studentka.
Maciej Mazur asks you if you’re a teacher, nauczyciel. Nauczyciel. Nauczyciel.
The word for a female teacher is nauczycielka. Nauczycielka. Nauczycielka
To form the instrumental case for feminine singular nouns ending in -a, replace it with -ą.
Studentka becomes studentką, and
nauczycielka becomes nauczycielką.
Say
"No, I'm not a teacher. I'm a student."
Ready?
Nie, nie jestem nauczycielką. Jestem studentką.
"No, I'm not a teacher. I'm a student."
Nie, nie jestem nauczycielką. Jestem studentką.
In Polish, many of the occupation nouns differ depending on gender.
For example, nauczycielka is feminine, and nauczyciel is masculine.
nauczycielka,
nauczyciel.
In Polish, there are some rules of thumb for gender of nouns.
Nouns that end in a consonant in their dictionary form usually tend to be masculine.
Nauczyciel. "Teacher.” (female)
Student. “Student.”
While nouns that end in -a are feminine.
Nauczycielka. "Teacher." (female)
Studentka. "Student." (female)
When talking about your occupation, the noun must be placed in the instrumental.
There are some simple rules that will help you create the instrumental case based on the ending of the noun. You’ll learn a few in this lesson.
In general, masculine singular nouns in the instrumental tend to end with -em.
Inżynier, "engineer" becomes inżynierem.
Inwestor, "investor" becomes inwestorem.
For all feminine nouns ending in an -a simply replace the ending with an -ą.
Nauczycielka, "teacher" becomes nauczycielką.
Lekarka, "doctor" becomes lekarką.

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