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Lesson Transcript

Cześć! Jestem Joanna. Hi! I’m Joanna.
Welcome to PolishPod101.com’s “Polski w 3 minuty”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Polish.
Last time we learned how to ask "Who" questions in Polish.
This time, we are going to ask “why” questions.
Imagine you’re late to work. You can be sure that your boss will ask you “Why are you late?”... If it’s Polish boss, we will probably say Dlaczego jesteś spóźniony?
[slowly] Dlaczego jesteś spóźniony?
So let’s break down this question:
First we had:
Dlaczego, which is the basic translation of "Why" in Polish.
jesteś is the 2nd person of the verb być, “to be”
and finally spóźniony is an adjective that means “late”.
All together it’s Dlaczego jesteś spóźniony?
if you are a woman, your boss will say: Dlaczego jesteś spóźniona?
So in Polish, dlaczego is the exact translation of "Why", used to ask the reason for something.
So for example, if your friend knows that you don’t like Polish food, he may ask you for the reason why. "Why you don’t like Polish food?", Dlaczego nie lubisz polskiego jedzenia?
[slowly] Dlaczego nie lubisz polskiego jedzenia?
To answer you will have to give a reason. For example: Bo jest za tłuste. “Because it’s too greasy”.
Simply start with the word bo, which means “because” and then name the reason.
In case you see someone doing something that you think is not really nessesary you can use the phrase po co, which literally means “what for”.
For example, you’re cooking with your friend and he starts cutting carrots, which you think is not nessesary. You can say:
Po co kroisz marchewkę?
[slowly] Po co kroisz marchewke?
What are you cutting this carrot for?
Now it’s time for Joanna’s Insights.
There’s an expression in Polish - Dlaczego nie? which means "Why not?".
You can use it to accept a proposition if you agree, but that you’re not really keen to do it. Or, if it was not planned in advance.
For example if a friend asks you suddenly "And what about going to the cinema tonight?"
You can answer Dlaczego nie? "Why not?"
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This lesson is the last lesson of this Absolute Beginner’s video series.
But hopefully it’s not the last time you learn Polish! To take your language ability to the next level, check out PolishPod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Polish. Powodzenia! Good luck!

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