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Lesson 12: To go (to)

Phrases like 'I am going' are extremely useful, not only for saying what we are doing but also as a way of accessing the future tense - 'On Monday I am going to the shop'

But first ... "Dzień dobry, ale może nie, może dobry wieczór. Teraz masz lekcję. To prawda!"

OK, let's grab some new vocabulary to use with "to go" here:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Town/City
Big Town/City
Small Town/City

Wielkie Miasto

I know what you're thinking - we did "big" and it was "duży". It's true. "Wielkie" really means something more like "Greater / Great" as in how Great Britain got its name because there was Brittany in Northern France and then when the French grabbed Britain in 1066 they were so unimpressed they just called it "Greater Brittany".

Many town names in Britain still bear "Greater" in their name simply to mean "larger" and that's how "Wielkie" is in this context.

Now where the border line lies between a Miasto and a Wielkie Miasto is hard to tell and often blurred. I hear a lot of people using "Miasto" to refer to towns while others will use it to refer to cities like Warsaw. I also hear people talk about cities as "Miastecko" but often to imply it is a very small city - "To miasteczko".

One thing to watch out for though as we go forward is the "eczko" on "miasteczko" which we will see often gets tagged on to a word to express that it is a small version of the main word.

The Old Town

Now if you are being a tourist one of the places you probably want to see in any city is the Old Town - nice and historical and all that. If you think it through you can ask where it is:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Where is the old town?

To go

OK, we'll begin with the 'to form' of "to go" which you'll use a lot:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I want to go

So "iść" is "to go" and we can use the simple phrase above to:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I want to go to sleep

Now the most important thing about "iść" is that it is "to go" when you are talking about going somewhere on foot but for the moment you can get away with using it to mean any form of "going" and you'll be understood.

If, for example, you were in London today and said you wanted to go to Warsaw using "iść" no one would take it to mean you were planning a grand pan Europe hike the next day! We'll get to the other form of "to go" that relates to using transport later.

Now then - if you are going somewhere that means you aren't there which means that place does not have you ... it is missing you ... so we are in the case where "something is missing". Knowing that you should be able to work out these:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I want to go to a/the bank
I want to go to a/the toilet
I want to go to a/the town

... and with adjectives ....

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I want to go to a/the good supermarket
I want to go to a/the new restaurant
I want to go to a/the big big

Sunday, Monday

Now one of the obvious things you will want to do is define when you want to go - "I want to go to the supermarket on Monday" - and that makes this an ideal time to start learning the days of the week. To do that we'll start with this verb:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
To operate / work
It works!
(It) doesn't work!

Now be careful here. This is not the verb "to work" as in "I go to work". It is a special verb that refers to things that work as in "they operate correctly" or function.

So find a sticky, write "Działa" on it and plaster it to the side of your screen. Now every time you switch your computer on shout "Działa!" - "it works!"

This is a very useful word as it can be applied to any machine such as a car. If you are receiving telephone support to try and fix something you can explain "Działa / Nie działa" when trying various fixes.

But what does that have to do with the price of fish? Well, as I understand it "Działać" was the old word for everyday work and you can still see it in the word for Sunday:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Sunday

So we have 'nie' and 'dziela'. As is often the case verbs evolve over time (It's not "dziela", but "działa") but when verbs become encased in a word they often stay static while the main language evolves.

Literally then "Niedziela" means "not working" and that is what Sunday is all about. It's a useful mental hook to remember the day.

"Po" has many meanings but one of them is "next to" and Monday is:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Monday

So the mental hook for remembering "Sunday" is "not working" and the mental hook for "Monday" is "next to Sunday"

On Sunday, on Monday

To say "On" a certain day (like "On Monday") we use "w" for "on" even though it more literally means "in".

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
On Sunday
On Monday

Yes, you've probably spotted it - the final 'a' in "Niedziela" has become an 'ę' just like we see when "kawa" changes to "kawę" in the "after a verb" case.

That's because even if you are not using a verb you would if you answered in full.

So you have enough now to put it all together ("Razem!").

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I want to go to a/the bank on Monday
I want to go to a/the restaurant on Sunday
On Monday I want to go to town

I go

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I go / I'm going

Note again how the 'I form" of verbs so often ends in 'ę' - "Lubię", "Myślię", "Idę".

Now obviously it's always useful to be able to answer the question "Where are you going?" but it's not something you are asked that often. However, just like in English you can use it to announce something you are about to do.

You can be sitting on the sofa and declare "I am going to the supermarket". No you're not, you're being a couch potato! But everyone understands you mean it as a statement of intent!

You have everything you need now to work out these before you reveal them:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I'm going to a/the supermarket on Monday
I'm going to a/the toilet now
On Sunday I'm going to a/the town
I'm going to a/the bank on Monday
I'm going to sleep (going to bed) here

I'm coming

Now there is a specific verb "to come" and in English if someone is saying "Come on, we are going to be late, we have to leave now" then we say "I'm coming, I'm Coming". However in Polish we say "I'm going, I'm going" - "Idę, Idę".

You go

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
You go / you are going

Yes - there it is again. That 'sz' ending for the 'informal you' version of the verb - "Masz", "Lubisz", "Myślisz", "Idziesz".

Now we already covered how to ask where something is so we have the word for "where" which means you know how to say this:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Where are you going?

That's the most useful thing about the 'you form' because you are not often going to tell people where they are going but rather ask them where they are off to.

The slight irregularity is when you are issuing a command. Then "you go" has a word all of its own!

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Go!

But everything else stays the same in terms of rules:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Go home!
Go to the bank!
Go to the restaurant!
Go to town!
Go to sleep now! (Go to bed now!)

Hang around parents with their kids and you'll hear "Idż" soon enough!

He/She/It goes

A rare exception here ... this form of the verb is not the shortest ... but close:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
He/She/It goes / is going

So let's stretch ourselves.

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Where is he going?
He is going to the supermarket but not now
On Monday she is going to the bank
On Sunday he is going to town
She is going to sleep now

And that's it - we have the basic ways to say where we are going when we are walking as well as where we want to go!

So now every time you go somewhere just before you go think "Chcę idę do ..." and as you go think "Idę do ..." and if you don't know the Polish for the place you are going just think "Chcę idę" and "Idę".

And obviously if you have a Polish partner or friend annoy the hell out of them by constantly asking "Gdzie idziesz teraz?"

Lesson 13: To Know and Why