Table Of Content

TEACH YOURSELF Polish ifl. Corbridge-Patkaniowska POLISH The Polish language has a fairly complicated grammar and many of the words undergo a change in form to indicate their varying function or relationship to other words in a sentence. The student must be able to distinguish between and use correctly these changing forms, and this book has been specially prepared to simplify his task. He is not asked to memorise laborious tables of all the possible variations of one word but instead is introduced to a few specific forms at a time and shown how to use them by means of examples drawn from everyday speech. The main points of grammar are explained simply and clearly, and the aspects of the Polish verbs are treated very thoroughly. TEACH YOURSELF BOOKS Teach Yourself Polish is an excellent introduction to a most difficult subject. The author has achieved considerable success in her attempt at a simple presentation along new lines . . . The intelligent student should be able to make good headway ii. the language. Higher Education Journal POLISH V vi; M. Corbridge-Patkaniowska ^ M.A., Ph.D. TEACH YOURSELF BOOKS Hodder and Stoughton First printed igfS Revised edition ig6o Revised and enlarged edition igf>4 Seventeenth impression igSg Copyright © ig6o, igf>4 editions Hodder and Stoughton Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro duced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any informa tion storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN o 340 26286 9 Printed in Great Britain , for Hodder and Stoughton Educational a division of Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, Mill Road, Dunton Green, Sevenoaks, Kent by Richard Clay Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk This volume is available in the U.S.A. from: Random House Inc., 201 East South Street, New York, N.Y. 10022 CONTENTS PAGE Foreword vii PART I LESSON The Pronunciation of Polish . . . . . . 1 1. Neuter Nouns—The Qualifying Pronoun and Adjective 7 2. The First Conjugation and the Personal Pronoun— Formal Address—The Preposition na . 10 3. Questions and Interrogatives . . . . . . 14 4. Neuter Nouns—The Functions of the Genitive . 17 5. The Second Conjugation . . . . . . 21 6. Neuter Nouns—Vowel Interchanges—The Groups kie, gie . 24 7. Adjectives and Pronouns—Cardinal Numbers—The Imperative . . . . . . . . 28 8. Numbers from Five Upwards—The Third Conjugation 32 9. Neuter Nouns—The functions of the Dative and the Instrumental . . . . . . . . 38 10. The Dative, Instrumental and Locative Plural—The Use of the Locative . . . . . . . . 42 11. The Fourth Conjugation—The Personal Pronoun 46 12. Endings of Masculine and Feminine Nouns—Accusative and Genitive Singular of Masculine Nouns—The Qualify ing Adjective . . . . . . . . 50 13. Verb: Past Tense, Third Person Singular—The Expression to jest . . . . . . . . . 56 14. Negation in Polish—Masculine Nouns: Genitive Singular (continued) . . . . . . . 60 35. Reflexive Verbs—Masculine and Feminine Nouns 65 16. Masculine Declension (continued)—Past Tense, Singular (continued) . . . . . . . . 70 17. Masculine Declension (continued)—Past Tense, Plural, 74 38. Masculine Nouns (continued)—The Present Tense of bye— Construction with bye . . . . . . 81 39. Pronouns, Adjectives, Numbers: Forms for Male Persons . 86 VI CONTENTS LESSON PAGE 20. Masculine Nouns (continued) . . . . . 95 21. Aspects of the Verb . . . . . . 99 22. Feminine Nouns—Perfective Verbs (continued)—Dative of Personal Pronoun . . . . . . 105 111 23. Feminine Nouns—Numbers . . . . . 24. Perfective Verbs—The Personal Pronoun 118 25. Plural of Feminine Nouns—Surnames 123 26. The Locative Case—The Possessives—The Verbs chciec and mdc . . . . . . . . . 130 27. Vocative of Masculine and Feminine Nouns—Diminutives 139 28. The Verbs for to go—The Preposition a . 144 29. The Personal Pronoun—Prepositions with Accusative (Motion Towards) and Locative (Position) . 154 30. Hard Stems: The Locative in -e—The Verbs: pisac. czesac, wiqzac, plakac . . . . . . 163 31. Hard Stems: The Locative in -e (continued)—The Verbs: bra6, prac, wziqc . . . . . . . 168 32. Locative Singular: Vowel Changes—More Verbs 173 33. Feminine Nouns ending in a Soft Consonant—Perfectives— Numbers . . . . . . . . 177 34. The Personal Pronoun—The Reflexive Pronoun—Verbs in -nqc . . . . . . . . . 183 35. Personal Pronoun: Summary—Trzeba, Powinien—The ■ Transposition of Endings . . . . . 191 36. Neuters in (—Verbs: nieii, wiezc—Numbers 199 37. Nouns with Irregular Plural-—Plural Nouns—Perfectives— The Use of nie ma—Past Tense after Numbers 205 38. Fourth Conjugation—Aspects: The Iterative and 212 Semelfactive Verbs . . . . . . 39. Masculines in -a—Comparison of Adjectives 218 40. The Future Tenses . . . . . . 223 41. Irregular Comparison of Adjectives—Formation and Comparison of Adverbs—Impersonal Expressions . 230 PART II Key to Translations into Polish and Exercises . 236 Subject Index of the Grammatical Material 257 General Vocabulary . . . . . . . 263 FOREWORD English is a language in which the grammar is simple and easy to learn, while the pronunciation is difficult, irregular and inconsistent. The Polish language has a complicated, yet largely regular grammar, but the pronunciation is con sistent and therefore comparatively easy. Polish is a highly inflected language. This means that most words undergo a change in form in order to indicate their changing function, or their changing relationship to other words in the sentence. The change of form consists principally in a variation of the ending. By its ending, a verb will declare, precisely, its person, number, tense and mood; a noun will indicate its number and case, defining exactly its relationship to other words in the phrase or sentence; and an adjective will show its complete agreement with the noun it qualifies. To learn Polish properly, the student must be able to dis tinguish these varying forms and to apply them correctly, that is, to learn to associate with each its particular sense and function. To make the work easy for the beginner and, also, to assist the advanced student who may wish to brush up the essentials, a new method of teaching Polish has been devised in this book. Instead of having to learn by heart laborious tables of all the possible variations of one word, the student now meets only a few specific forms at a time, and becomes accustomed to using them correctly by means of examples drawn from everyday speech. His progress, lesson by lesson, is further simplified by a new arrangement of the grammatical material, departing from and replacing the usual sequence of cases and the “order of declensions,” generally followed in Polish grammars. The neuter declen sion is taken first, as this shows the fewest changes and in it the whole process of inflection can be demonstrated in the simplest terms. When the student has become well accus tomed to the habit of showing case relationship and adjec tival agreement in the endings, he proceeds to study gram via FOREWORD matical gender and the more complicated inflection of other nouns. Forms with identical endings are grouped together, similarities are brought out, and memory is further helped by lists of examples in which, where possible, the device of rhyme and assonance is used. Throughout the book the student’s attention is drawn to the difference between Polish and English usage in everyday idiomatic expressions, in the use of common prepositions, in certain features of sentence structure, etc. Special stress is laid on the importance of understanding thoroughly and using correctly the “aspects” of the Polish verb. As this is a feature unfamiliar to English-speaking people, its mean ing and implication have been illustrated by annotated lists of specific examples. In scope, the book comprises the essential elements of Polish grammar, excluding participles and the conditional mood. The vocabulary contains about 1,000 words. M. C-P. THE 1964 EDITION This revised and enlarged edition appears in the year of a memorable anniversary of the University of Cracow, the Alma Mater Jagellonica to so many throughout the world and to the author. While joining with all in tribute and homage in the celebration of the University’s six hundred illustrious years of scholarship and teaching, the author would like to wish her here: Quod felix, faustum, fortunatumque sit—ad Milennium. PART I THE PRONUNCIATION OF POLISH Vowels Polish possesses the following eight vowel sounds: 1. Oral: V—as in half, laugh o—as in a few English words such as molest, November u (6)—as in book, look e:—as in ten, men T—as in heat, seat, but shorter ^—as the sound for y in Mary, very, sorry 2. Nasal: %—as in the French words un, Verdun—a nasal e 3—as in the French words on, comprenons—a nasal o The sound u is spelled o' in certain words, positions, endings; both u and o' are pronounced in exactly the same way. The vowels (, q are not always pronounced nasally, as indicated above. At the end of words the $ loses its nasality in colloquial Polish and is pronounced as oral e, the q, however, preserves it. In the middle of words both these vowels, unless in very careful elocution, are pronounced nasally only when followed by a fricative consonant, i.e. by s, z, s, £, sz, Z (rz), w,f or ch (A). For g, q in other positions see page 5. All Polish vowels are of one, medium length, i.e. they are shorter than the English long vowels, but longer than the English short vowels. Consonants The following consonants are pronounced in Polish very much as in English: