Lesson 11: To think, To like

'To think' and 'To like' are two very common verbs They're short to write and simple to say so we'll cover them both in this lesson.

But first of course ... "Może dzień dobry, Może dobry wieczor. Teraz masz lekcję? Tak, masz!"

OK, so "to think" and "to like" are verbs ... and there is nothing missing ... so you know which case we are in!

English	Polish
I think (that) I like good coffee	Myślę, że lubię dobrą kawę

Some very important take aways from that sentence:

• There is always a comma after "Myślę"
• You must say "że". In English we have mostly dropped the "that" but it was there before and when someone is being more expressive in English you'll notice it is still used. In Polish it must always be there.
• Obviously we are after a verb but Nothing is missing so feminine verbs change - "Kawa" -> "Kawę"

Personally I found it helpful to start using "that" again in English sentences as a reminder that it's always needed in Polish.

Right, let's try doing some thinking with words we already know:

English	Polish
I think (that) I like Poland	Myślę, że lubię Polskę Click to Reveal
I think (that) I like tea now	Myślę, że lubię herbatę teraz Click to Reveal
I think (that) I like red wine here	Myślę, że lubię czerwone wino tutaj Click to Reveal
I think (that) I like stres	Myślę, że lubię stres Click to Reveal

Music

When it comes to music most genres are actually said (and usually written) the same in Polish as they are in English so you know the phrases below already.

English	Polish
I think (that) I like jazz	Myślę, że lubię jazz Click to Reveal
I think (that) I like rock	Myślę, że lubię rock Click to Reveal
I think (that) I like pop	Myślę, że lubię pop Click to Reveal
I think (that) I like heavy metal now	Myślę, że lubię heavy metal teraz Click to Reveal
I think (that) I like Hip Hop here	Myślę, że lubię Hip Hop tutaj Click to Reveal
I think (that) I like rap	Myślę, że lubię rap Click to Reveal
I think (that) I like techno	Myślę, że lubię techno Click to Reveal

Thinking

OK - let's focus a bit more just on thinking and get the 'informal you' form.

English	Polish
You think	Myślisz

And there it is again - that 'sz' ending for verbs in the 'informal you' form appearing again just like in "Masz" and "Chcesz".

So now then ... do you remember when we talked about things being true and people being right way back in lesson 4? With a little intuition you should be able to get these:

English	Polish
You think (that) it's true	Myślisz, że to prawda Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's not true	Myślisz, że to nieprawda Click to Reveal
You think (that) I'm right	Myślisz, że mam rację Click to Reveal
You think (that) you're right	Myślisz, że masz rację Click to Reveal
You think (that) he is right	Myślisz, że on ma rację Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's normal	Myślisz, że to normalne Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's legal	Myślisz, że to legalne Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's a good bank	Myślisz, że to dobry bank Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's a good coffee	Myślisz, że to dobra kawa Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's a good password	Myślisz, że to dobre hasło Click to Reveal

Now just like with "Masz" all the above can be either statements or, if you raise the tone of your voice at the end, a question. "Myślisz, że to dobry hasło?" - "Do you think it is a good password?"

But

We've got one 'glue' word so far - "i" meaning "and". Let's get another.

English	Polish
But	Ale

"Ale" is one of those words in Polish which are completely different if you are writing compared to speaking. In texts you will find authors are more likely to use "lecz". For this beginners course I'm just going to concentrate on how Polish is spoken but I will flag up these situations so you are aware of them.

Alright now let's think out how we would build up the sentence "You think (that) it is true but you are not right".

• We know the positive way to say the last bit "Masz rację" - "You are right/correct" - earlier
• Next because "rację" ends in an 'ę' and it's coming after a verb we can reverse engineer to get the dictionary word "racja"
• "Racja" ends in 'a' like "Kobieta" so we know its feminine.
• If someone is not correct then they are missing something (correctness) so we know that on the something is missing case feminie nouns change - usually 'a' -> 'y'
• However "Racja" is one of those words that ends 'cja' so it usually changes to 'cji' - like nie ma ambicji.

So with all of those you should be able to figure these out before revealing them:

English	Polish
You think (that) you are right but you are not right	Myślisz, że masz rację, ale nie masz racji Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's a good bank but you are not right	Myślisz, że to dobry bank, ale nie masz racji Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's red wine but you are not right	Myślisz, że to czerwone wino, ale nie masz racji Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's legal but it's not true	Myślisz, że to legalne, ale to nieprawda Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's a big problem but its not true	Myślisz, że to duży problem, ale to nieprawda Click to Reveal
You think (that) it's a bad restaurant but you are not right	Myślisz, że to zła resturacja, ale nie masz racji Click to Reveal

Now of course "You are wrong" is a bit quicker but we're not there yet so "You are not right" is a perfect work around when you have limited vocab and it gets you communicating.

He/she/it thinks

As usual the 'he/she/it' form of the verb is short:

English	Polish
He/She/It thinks	Myśli

We'll just stick with 'He/She' because things don't think even if we sometimes say they do. When AI does fully arrive you can just remember that 'It' is the same as 'He/She'.

English	Polish
He thinks it's big but it's small	On myśli, że to duży, ale to mały

So try out these ones:

English	Polish
She thinks it's good but it's bad	Ona myśli, że to dobry, ale to zły Click to Reveal
She thinks it's new but it's old	Ona myśli, że to nowy, ale to stary Click to Reveal
He thinks it's a restaurant but it's a bistro	On myśli, że to restuaracja, ale to bistro Click to Reveal
She thinks it's stress but it's depression	Ona myśli, że to stres, ale to depresja Click to Reveal
He thinks it's true but he is not right	On myśli, że to prawda, ale nie ma racji Click to Reveal

Of course, and you've probably thought this already, how the adjectives end depends on what 'it' is:

• If we are talking about "Wino" -> "Mysli, że to duże ale to małe"
• If we are talking about "Herbata" -> "Mysli, że to duża ale jest mała"

Yes - "mała" because we are not directly after the verb here, we're back with "to" in the case where we are answering the question "What is it?" - > "She thinks it is a small tea".

Liking things

Well that's thinking so let's go back to liking things ... like thinking!

English	Polish
I like to think	Lubię myśleć

And that gives us the 'to form' of "to think"

English	Polish
I like to think (that) it's true	Lubię myśleć, że to prawda Click to Reveal
I like to think (that) it's big	Lubię myśleć, że to duży Click to Reveal
I like to think (that) it's new but it's old	Lubię myśleć, że to nowy ale to stary Click to Reveal
I like to think (that) it's good	Lubię myśleć, że to dobry Click to Reveal

And now we have all the base phrases that you get with any verb:

English	Polish
I like good coffee	Lubię dobrą kawę Click to Reveal
I like old wine	Lubię stare wino Click to Reveal
I like a big house but not here	Lubię duży dom ale nie tutaj Click to Reveal
I like it	Lubię to Click to Reveal

And that last one is the one you will find all over Facebook!

Do you like?

We've seen how we can use "Chcesz" and "Masz" as both statements and questions and the same is true here as well:

English	Polish
(Do) you like pizza?	Lubisz pizzę?
(Do) you like tea?	Lubisz herbatę?
(Do) you like wine?	Lubisz wino?

Take off the question and it becomes a statement

English	Polish
You like tea but I like coffee	Lubisz herbatę ale lubię kawę Click to Reveal

He/She likes

As usual we're stripping back to get the shortest version

English	Polish
He/She likes	Lubi

And as that is so super simple let's get a couple more words to practice it with:

English	Polish
You (after a verb)	cię
Me (after a verb)	mnie

So ... "Razem"

English	Polish
He likes me	On lubi mnie Click to Reveal
She likes you	Ona lubi cię Click to Reveal
He likes you but he doesn't like me now	On lubi cię ale nie lubi mnie teraz Click to Reveal
She likes red wine but not here	Ona lubi czerwone wino ale nie tutaj Click to Reveal

OK so we know how to say what we think and what we like so when you are ready ... "Dalej".

Lesson 12: To go (to)