Learn about informal self-introductions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to PolishPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner Season 1 Lesson 9. - Meeting People is Easy in Poland! Eric here. |
| Marzena: Cześć. I'm Marzena. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do informal self-introductions. The conversation takes place at a nightclub. |
| Marzena: It's between Tomek and Ann. |
| Eric: The speakers are young strangers, so they’ll be speaking informal Polish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| : (w klubie nocnym) |
| Tomek: Cześć, jestem Tomek, a ty? |
| Ann: Co? Nic nie słyszę! |
| Tomek: Cześć, jestem Tomek, a ty? Jak się nazywasz? |
| Ann: Acha, jestem Ann. |
| Tomek: O! To ty nie jesteś Polką? |
| Ann: Nie, jestem Australijką. |
| Tomek: Ile masz lat? |
| Ann: 20 (dwadzieścia), a ty? |
| Tomek: Prawie 22 (dwadzieścia dwa). |
| Ann: Prawie? |
| Tomek: 21 (dwadzieścia jeden) i pół. (parę sekund) Podasz mi swój numer telefonu? |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| : (w klubie nocnym) |
| Tomek: Cześć, jestem Tomek, a ty? |
| Ann: Co? Nic nie słyszę! |
| Tomek: Cześć, jestem Tomek, a ty? Jak się nazywasz? |
| Ann: Acha, jestem Ann. |
| Tomek: O! To ty nie jesteś Polką? |
| Ann: Nie, jestem Australijką. |
| Tomek: Ile masz lat? |
| Ann: 20 (dwadzieścia), a ty? |
| Tomek: Prawie 22 (dwadzieścia dwa). |
| Ann: Prawie? |
| Tomek: 21 (dwadzieścia jeden) i pół. (parę sekund) Podasz mi swój numer telefonu? |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| : (at a nightclub) |
| Tomek: Hi! I'm Tomek, and you? |
| Ann: What? I can't hear anything! |
| Tomek: Hi, I'm Tomek, and you? What’s your name? |
| Ann: Oh, I'm Ann. |
| Tomek: Oh, so you’re not Polish? |
| Ann: No, I'm Australian. |
| Tomek: How old are you? |
| Ann: 20, and you? |
| Tomek: Almost 22. |
| Ann: Almost? |
| Tomek: 21 and a half. (few seconds) Will you give me your phone number? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Marzena, are there many international students in Poland? |
| Marzena: Yes, in recent years the number of foreign students at Polish universities has been growing rapidly. According to statistics from 2014, currently there are over 36 thousand foreign students in Poland. |
| Eric: Why has the number increased so much? |
| Marzena: The government is actively trying to get more foreign students into Polish universities. |
| Eric: Where are most of the foreign students from? |
| Marzena: The biggest number of students comes from Ukraine, followed by others from countries like Belarus, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. |
| Eric: So it’s mainly European students. |
| Marzena: Yes, because there is a program called Erasmus that encourages exchanges inside the Union. But some students come from other continents too. |
| Eric: And which are the most popular universities? |
| Marzena:The most commonly chosen universities are University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University and University of Wroclaw, because they offer many fields of study with classes conducted in English. They're also among the best universities in the country. |
| 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: cześć [natural native speed] |
| Eric: hello, hi |
| Marzena: cześć[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: cześć [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: słyszeć [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to hear |
| Marzena: słyszeć[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: słyszeć [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: acha [natural native speed] |
| Eric: aha |
| Marzena: acha[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: acha [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: Polka [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Polish (female) |
| Marzena: Polka[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: Polka [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: Australijka [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Australian (female) |
| Marzena: Australijka[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: Australijka [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: rok [natural native speed] |
| Eric: year |
| Marzena: rok[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: rok [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: prawie [natural native speed] |
| Eric: almost |
| Marzena: prawie[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: prawie [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: pół [natural native speed] |
| Eric: half |
| Marzena: pół[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: pół [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Marzena: podać [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to give, to pass, to serve |
| Marzena: podać[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: podać [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And lastly.. |
| Marzena: swój [natural native speed] |
| Eric: one's own |
| Marzena: swój[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: swój [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Marzena: Co? |
| Eric: meaning "what?" This can be used as a stand alone word, just as it was in this lesson's dialogue. In this case it's a question, just like the English "what?" Use it whenever you didn't hear what someone said, or if you're very surprised by what you've just heard. |
| Marzena: Listeners, remember to use the right intonation here. |
| Eric: Can you give us some examples? |
| Marzena: Sure, for example, it can be a full question like co dzisiaj robisz? |
| Eric: meaning "what are you doing today?" |
| Marzena: or co chcesz kupić? |
| Eric: "What do you want to buy?" |
| Marzena: Finally, you can use it as an exclamation, Co?! Żenisz się?! |
| Eric:"What?! You're getting married?" Okay, what's the next word? |
| Marzena: lata |
| Eric: meaning "years." |
| Marzena: Lata is a noun in plural form which means "years" in English. The singular form of this noun is rok, and it's a masculine noun. |
| Eric: The plural form is used when talking about age, just like you heard in this lesson's dialogue. There's a very important thing to remember here, which is that the word will change depending on the number of years. |
| Marzena: That’s right. The rule is very similar to, but simpler than the one we saw in another lesson about Polish currency. |
| Eric: Let’s learn them. “One year old” is |
| Marzena: 1 rok, but since you would use it when referring to babies usually we say roczek which is a singular diminutive form of rok. |
| Eric: “two, three, four years old” and other numbers that end with two, three, and four except 12, 13 and 14... |
| Marzena: Use lata or diminutive latka |
| Eric: and for all the other numbers, including 12, 13 and 14 |
| Marzena: You should use lat. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say.. Mam 24 lata. |
| Eric: .. which means "I'm 24 years old." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to do informal self-introductions. |
| Marzena: Introducing yourself in an informal situation is very easy in Polish. |
| Eric: This is because you can use much simpler words than with formal introductions. |
| Marzena: First of all, remember to start with a greeting. The most common one is Cześć, meaning “Hello” or “Hi” in English. After that, give your name. For that you will need the verb być. |
| Eric: This verb means "to be," and without a doubt it will become one of the most useful verbs in your Polish vocabulary. |
| Marzena: When you’re introducing yourself, especially in a casual setting, you simply have to say Jestem... followed by your name, just like in the dialogue. Ann said Jestem Ann. |
| Eric: meaning "I’m Ann." Marzena, let’s give the complete conjugation. |
| Marzena: ja jestem |
| Eric: "I am" |
| Marzena: ty jesteś |
| Eric: "you are" |
| Marzena: on/ona/ono jest |
| Eric: "he/she/it is" |
| Marzena:my jesteśmy |
| Eric: "we are" |
| Marzena: wy jesteście |
| Eric: "you are" |
| Marzena: oni/one są |
| Eric: "they are" |
| Marzena: In Polish, there are three main verb conjugations in the present tense, each of which is named after the respective ending in the first- and second-person singular. We have the conjugation -m, -sz, the conjugation -ę, -isz/-ysz, and the conjugation -ę, -esz |
| Eric: The verb “to be” doesn’t belong to any of these right? |
| Marzena: Right. However, people generally agree that the verb być belongs to the -m, -sz conjugation. |
| Eric: Ok, now let’s see how to ask someone to repeat something, like in the dialogue. |
| Marzena: In the dialogue Ann said Co? |
| Eric: which translates into English as “What?” however, as we’ve already mentioned, this word is strictly limited to very casual settings. If we’re talking to an elderly person or someone you don’t know very well there are other, safer ways of asking someone to repeat something. |
| Marzena: Here we will use the verb powtarzać |
| Eric: meaning "to repeat" |
| Marzena: If it’s someone we call by their first name we can say Możesz powtórzyć? |
| Eric: "Can you repeat that?" |
| Marzena: If it’s a stranger you can say Proszę powtórzyć. |
| Eric: "Repeat, please." |
| Marzena: or Może pani powtórzyć? |
| Eric: "Could you repeat that, ma'am?" |
| Marzena: Może pan powtórzyć? |
| Eric: "Could repeat it, sir?" In the dialogue we also saw some sentences you can use to ask for someone’s phone number or mail. |
| Marzena: When you want to ask someone to give you their contact information, the most common and informal way is to use the verb podać, which means “to pass” or “to give.” Since your sentence will be directed to another person, you will have to use the second person singular form of this verb, which is podasz. |
| Eric: This is the future form. |
| Marzena: For the moment it’s not necessary to learn the whole conjugation, just remember podasz. In the dialogue Tomek said Podasz mi swój numer telefonu? |
| Eric: “Will you give me your phone number?” |
| Marzena: The question starts with podasz meaning “will you give,” then mi, meaning “me.” The next component is swój, a pronoun indicating that something belongs to someone, and in this case it’s going to be the phone number that belongs to Ann. Lastly there’s numer telefonu, meaning “phone number.” |
| Eric: Imagine we want to exchange mail addresses, how can we say “Will you give me your email address?” |
| Marzena: Podasz mi swój adres email? or more simply Podasz mi swój email? |
| Eric: meaning “Will you give me your email?” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Marzena: Do widzenia. |
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