Learn how to send something at a post office
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to PolishPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner Season 1 Lesson 25 - Going to the Polish Post Office. Eric here. |
| Marzena: Cześć. I'm Marzena. |
| Eric: In this final lesson of the series, you’ll learn some useful phrases which will come in handy while visiting a post office. The conversation takes place at a post office. |
| Marzena: It's between Ann and a man. |
| Eric: The speakers are strangers, so they'll use formal Polish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Ann: Dzień dobry, poproszę trzy znaczki do Australii. |
| Mężczyzna: Na list czy na kartkę. |
| Ann: Dwa na list i jeden na kartkę. |
| Mężczyzna: To wszystko? |
| Ann: Nie, jeszcze jedną kartkę |
| Mężczyzna: 8 (osiem) złotych poproszę. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Ann: Dzień dobry, poproszę trzy znaczki do Australii. |
| Mężczyzna: Na list czy na kartkę. |
| Ann: Dwa na list i jeden na kartkę. |
| Mężczyzna: To wszystko? |
| Ann: Nie, jeszcze jedną kartkę |
| Mężczyzna: 8 (osiem) złotych poproszę. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Ann: Good morning, may I have three stamps to Australia please? |
| Man: For a letter or for a postcard? |
| Ann: Two for a letter and one for a postcard. |
| Man: Is that all? |
| Ann: No, I would like to have one postcard too. |
| Man: That will be 8 zl. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Marzena, what are “post offices” called in Polish? |
| Marzena: In Poland, post offices usually have a sign above the entrance that says either poczta or urząd pocztowy. Both mean “post office.” You can send any kind of letter or parcel from there. If you don't need to buy a stamp, you can post a letter by dropping it into what we call in Polish skrzynka pocztowa, which are small red mailboxes located all over the city. |
| Eric: And what if I want my letter to be delivered quickly? |
| Marzena: In that case it's better to go to the post office, because not all mailboxes are emptied every day. |
| Eric: Of course, I guess the cost depends on the size and weight of what you're sending, as well as the destination. |
| Marzena: Right. The weight is calculated per kilogram, so it's worth checking the weight before you post it. If, for example, your parcel's weight is 1.2 kilograms, you may as well add something else, because you'd be paying the same as for 2 kg. |
| Eric: Is there anything we should know about Polish post offices? |
| Marzena: If you're sending a box, make sure you wrap it with plain brown paper, which is sold at stationery shops. Polish post offices may not accept unwrapped boxes. |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Marzena: prosić [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to ask for, request |
| Marzena: prosić [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: prosić [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: znaczek [natural native speed] |
| Eric: stamp |
| Marzena: znaczek [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: znaczek [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: Australia [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Australia |
| Marzena: Australia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: Australia [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: list [natural native speed] |
| Eric: letter |
| Marzena: list [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: list [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: kartka [natural native speed] |
| Eric: postcard, sheet of paper |
| Marzena: kartka[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: kartka [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: na [natural native speed] |
| Eric: for, on |
| Marzena: na [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: na [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: wszystko [natural native speed] |
| Eric: everything |
| Marzena: wszystko [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: wszystko [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Marzena: jeszcze [natural native speed] |
| Eric: yet, again |
| Marzena: jeszcze [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: jeszcze [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Our word for this lesson is... |
| Marzena: jeszcze |
| Eric: which means “yet, still.” In some cases it can also even mean “even more.” You can use this word with the meaning “still” and “yet” the same way as in English. For example, you can say… |
| Marzena: Jeszcze mam trochę pieniędzy. |
| Eric: “I still have some money,” or you can say... |
| Marzena: Jeszcze nie skończyłem pracować. |
| Eric: “I haven't finished working yet.” |
| Marzena: When we talk about some feature increasing, usually when compared to the past or another object or person having the same feature, for example beauty, we will also use jeszcze. |
| Eric: For example, you can say… |
| Marzena: Jesteś jeszcze piękniejsza niż 2 lata temu |
| Eric: “You're even more beautiful than two years ago” |
| Marzena: Listeners, please note that jeszcze means “yet” only in negation and cannot be used in a construction like the English “Have you finished yet?”. In that case we will need another word in Polish, and that's już. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say.. Jesteś jeszcze w pracy? |
| Eric: ..which means “Are you still at work?” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson you'll learn some useful phrases that will come in handy when you’re visiting a post office. |
| Marzena: We've already learned how to buy things using the word poproszę, which means “please.” |
| Eric: If you know what you want, that’s the best word to use. Ann did that in our dialogue. She said... |
| Marzena: ...poproszę trzy znaczki do Australii, |
| Eric: which literally means “Three stamps to Australia, please.” Marzena, let's break down this phrase to see the meaning of this word. |
| Marzena: Sure. Poproszę means “please,” and trzy is the number that means “three.” Then we have the masculine noun in its plural accusative form, znaczki, which stands for the English “stamps,” and lastly do Australii, which means “to Australia.” Once more, Poproszę trzy znaczki do Australii. |
| Eric: “Three stamps to Australia please.” Our next expression that will come in handy is “I would like to send this to...” and then say the desired destination. Let’s use Italy as our destination. |
| Marzena: If a man is speaking, it will be...Chciałbym to wysłać do Włoch and if a woman is speaking, it will be Chciałabym to wysłać do Włoch. |
| Eric: Let’s break down these sentences to see the meaning of each word. |
| Marzena: Sure. Chciałbym, for men, and chciałabym, for women, means “I would like to.” To means “this” and wysłać is “to send.” Finally we have our destination - do Włoch, which means “to Italy.” |
| Eric: So, altogether we have… |
| Marzena: Chciałbym to wysłać do Włoch , or Chciałabym to wysłać do Włoch. |
| Eric: Which means “I would like to send it to Italy.” when spoken by a male and female respectively. Marzena, how would you say “I would like to send this postcard to Italy” in Polish? |
| Marzena: “postcard” in Polish is pocztówka. So you can say...Chciałbym wysłać tę pocztówkę do Włoch if you are a man and Chciałabym wysłać tę pocztówkę do Włoch if you are a woman. Pocztówka is a feminine noun, so it requires tę, meaning “this” for feminine nouns in accusative form. |
| Eric: This sentence means “I would like to send this postcard to Italy.” Now let's try with “this letter.” |
| Marzena: “This letter” in Polish is ten list. Just replace the previous tę pocztówkę meaning “this postcard,” with ten list, “this letter.” List is a masculine noun, so it requires ten, ten list, “this letter.” |
| Eric: So, altogether we will have... |
| Marzena: Chciałbym wysłać ten list do Włoch for a man or Chciałabym wysłać ten list do Włoch for a woman. |
| Eric: And what about “I would like to send this package to Italy”? |
| Marzena: You can use the same sentence structure. Just replace ten list meaning “this letter,” with tę paczkę, meaning “this package.” Chciałbym wysłać tę paczkę do Włoch for a man and Chciałabym wysłać tę paczkę do Włoch for a woman. |
| Eric: “I would like to send this package to Italy.” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson and this series. We hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you in another series. Bye! |
| Marzena: Do usłyszenia. |
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