Learn some common verb prefixes in Polish
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Intro |
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| Michael: What are some verb prefixes in Polish? |
| Igor: And why are they useful to know? |
| Michael: At PolishPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following situation: Małgorzata Michalska and Jack Jones are learning together for the next test. Jack Jones wants to read a book lying next to Malgorzata and asks, "Are you still reading it?" |
| Jack Jones: Czytasz to jeszcze? |
| Dialogue |
| Jack Jones: Czytasz to jeszcze? |
| Małgorzata Michalska: Nie, już przeczytałam. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Jack Jones: Czytasz to jeszcze? |
| Michael: "Are you still reading it?" |
| Małgorzata Michalska: Nie, już przeczytałam. |
| Michael: "No, I've already read it. " |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we will be discussing some verb prefixes in Polish and why they are useful to know. But first, what is a prefix, or |
| Igor: przedrostek? |
| Michael: To answer that, it's necessary to understand what affixes are. The dictionary defines affixes as grammatical elements which are added to words, phrases, or stems to change or modify their meaning. Prefixes are one of the three types of affixes. As the name suggests, a prefix gets added to the beginning of a word. Think, for instance, of the English word "going". We can add the prefix "on," which modifies it to "ongoing". |
| Basically, prefixes are put in front of a word to change its nuance, or give it a new meaning. To understand how it works better, let’s look at a verb, such as “to run”: |
| Igor: biec |
| Michael: This simply means “to run” as in |
| Igor: Biegam codziennie. |
| Michael: meaning “I’m running everyday.” Now, let’s see what happens when we add a common prefix to it. The prefix is: |
| Igor: w |
| Michael: And the resulting word is: |
| Igor: wbiec |
| Michael: This means “to run into something.” The prefix adds the nuance of an action happening between the outside and the inside of a space. So, for instance, the sentence, |
| Igor: Chłopiec wbiegł do sklepu |
| Michael: means “The boy ran into the store.” |
| It is in this way that we can understand the perfective function of many prefixes. |
| Our last example is the prefix |
| Igor: pod |
| Michael: One of the meanings this prefix transfers, is of starting something. Take, for instance, the verb meaning “to burn”: |
| Igor: palić |
| Michael: as in the sentence |
| Igor: Tata pali śmieci w ogrodzie |
| Michael: meaning “Dad is burning trash in the garden.” |
| With the prefix added, it becomes “to ignite”: |
| Igor: podpalić |
| Michael: As in the sentence, |
| Igor: Tata podpalił drewno w kominku. |
| Michael: meaning “Dad ignited the wood in the fireplace.” |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Jack Jones asks, "Are you still reading it?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Igor: Czytasz to jeszcze? |
| Michael: and how Małgorzata answers, "No, I've already read it." |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Igor: Nie, już przeczytałam. |
| Michael: Jack, using the word |
| Igor: czytać |
| Michael: meaning “to read,” asked Malgorzata if she’s still reading something, meaning if she still continues to do the action of reading. |
| Then, Malgorzata by adding the prefix |
| Igor: prze- |
| Michael: indicated that she already completed the action, and finished reading the book. |
| So, the prefix |
| Igor: prze- |
| Michael: when attached to a verb means “to complete an action.” In our case, if attached to the verb |
| Igor: czytać |
| Michael: meaning “to read,” it becomes |
| Igor: przeczytać |
| Michael: meaning “to finish reading.” |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, we discussed Polish verb prefixes. They are important to know because they are frequently used in Polish. Knowing them will help you understand words you come across for the first time. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Memorizing prefixes will definitely help you while learning Polish. Although it would be nice if each prefix had only one meaning, many prefixes have multiple meanings. For instance, the prefix |
| Igor: po |
| Michael: has multiple meanings. So, for example, if added to the verb, |
| Igor: gubić, |
| Michael: meaning “to lose something” is attached to the prefix, creating the verb |
| Igor: pogubić |
| Michael: It carries the meaning of an repeated action, as in |
| Igor: Pogubiłem wszystkie moje klucze |
| Michael: meaning “I’ve lost all my keys,” indicating that the person who lost them lost them over a longer period of time, and not at once. |
| Another meaning of the prefix is to finish an action. This time, let’s look at the verb |
| Igor: całować |
| Michael: meaning “to kiss.” When the prefix is attached, |
| Igor: pocałować, |
| Michael: the Polish speaker will understand that this action is finished. For instance, the sentence |
| Igor: Babcia pocałowała mnie w policzek |
| Michael: means “Grandmother kissed me on the cheek.” |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Igor: Do zobaczenia! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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