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Being able to express what you can do ... or to ask if you can do something ... is a very common part of any language so let's find out how to do that in Polish.
"Ale, ale, ale ... myślę, że jest Dzień dobry, ale może nie, może dobry wieczór. Wiesz, że mamy lekcję teraz."
We'll begin with what is usually the core form of any verb - he/she/it can
 English |  Polish |
|---|---|
| He/she/it can | |
| Can he/she/it? |
Yes, both the same as always, just raise the tone a bit at the end to get the question form.
Now you're probably thinking - "I recognize that word!" - and yes you do from Lesson 4 where I said it means "maybe", and I've been using it at the start of most lessons.
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| Maybe | |
| Maybe yes, maybe no |
... and here you are seeing the connection - it's really, in a literal sense, "it can" or "can it?" which is a little like saying "maybe" in English - something can be but it doesn't mean it will be or it has to be!
"Może" acts exactly the same way as "Chce ("He/she wants") in that:
So it is always the 'to form' which comes afterwards even if, in English, we don't always use the word "to".
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| He/she can (to) sleep here on Monday |
OK, in the last lesson we covered how to take the 'he/she/it' form and use it to get the 'you/we' form so have a go when you have "Może" as the 'he/she/it' form:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| You (informal) can | |
| We can |
A popular phrase in Polish is "Możesz? Możesz!". "Can you? You can!" when you are making a point that something is possible to someone who has been skeptical. So if the argument is about whether or not you can fit 14 people inside a Mini Cooper and then you find an article that says it has been done you can say, "Możesz? Możesz!"
OK - let's get some new vocabulary to use with "You/we can" / "Can you/we?" type phrases.
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| Radio | |
| Television | |
| Internet | |
| Secret |
I know - tough, tough, tough - but you'll remember them eventually ;).
Now let's do "can" in among these new words and some stuff we already know:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| Can you (informal) go now? | |
| Can we sleep here? | |
| Can we have internet? | |
| You can have the television | |
| You can have the secret |
As simple as all the other verbs - we just stick "Nie" in front!
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| Can't you (informal) go there now? | |
| We can't sleep here | |
| We can't have the radio | |
| Why can't you have the internet? | |
| He can't go home | |
| Why can't he go home? | |
| We can't go together on Sunday |
As you see we can create the future tense (without having to know the future tense) by just adding a point in the future - useful!
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| I can |
"I can" is unusual - as is often the case with many commonly used verb it follows no pattern which would allow us to guess it. If you did though and used 'ę' that would have got you in the ball park!
OK - try thinking this one out.
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| I can't know why | |
| Can I go to town on Sunday? | |
| Can I have the radio? |
I know someone is going to say "Mogę mieć radio?" isn't correct and that's true. As with "Chciałbym mieć radio" we wouldn't normally say this - we would be more descriptive - "I want to buy a radio" or such like. Same with "Can I have the radio?" - we would normally say (in Polish) - "Can I take the radio?" or more accurately "Can I receive the radio?".
But we're not there yet with all those verbs so "mieć" serves as a useful stop gap which means you will be able to communicate and be understood right now. There's always time to become more elegant once you are up and running!
Well of course it stands to reason that we can or can't do something because of something else.
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| Because |
Aaaaaah! So nice to have something extra short to remember from time to time. Well yes and no. This is also one of those words that is said differently if it is being put in writing. Then you'll see it as "ponieważ". Watch out for this with online translators that don't know if you want the translation for writing or for speaking. "Bo" is how we talk!
And here is a short phrase you might here parents say to their kids now and then when they're saying that something is as it is "just because" .... OK?.
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| Because yes (Just because) |
OK - so let's make a mega sentence and then break it down - "You can't have the internet on Monday because it's not working."
Now first things first, if you can't have something then you will be missing something so ... we are in the case "something is missing".
Next - focus on the bit of the sentence you need to say. Get it right, then move onto the next bit:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| You can't have the internet on Monday because it doesn't work |
Now whenever we have a joining word (like "i" or "bo") we are actually creating two sentences and they don't have to be in the same case. Look at this sentence "I can't have red wine because it's bad"
And it's "złe" (not "zły" or "zła") because the subject of the sentence is "wino" which, as I'm sure you have been completely brainwashed to know, is neuter.
For some it helps to get all these different parts right by thinking out the full sentence to begin with - "I can't have red wine because it's bad red wine". That gets all the forms and cases sorted and then you just chop off the last "red wine".
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| I can't have red wine because it's bad |
So let's try 7 more. Remember focus completely on each part of the sentence piece by piece and then move on:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| He can have the internet because he is good | |
| She can't have the internet because it doesn't work now | |
| You can have the radio now because it works | |
| Can I have a new television because my television is old? | |
| He/she can't have white wine because we don't have white wine | |
| You can't know why because it's a secret |
Take a bit of time to go back over the previous lessons and see where you can create 'because' sentences like this:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| I like the house because it is big | |
| You think it's normal because it's legal | |
| I would like internet because I have a computer | |
| I want coffee because I don't want to go to sleep |