What you know so far [Toggle]
In English 'to know' covers a wide variety of uses while in Polish there's a division between knowing concrete things and knowing 'about' things - being 'aware' of them.
But first ... "Może Dzień dobry, może dobry wieczór. Mamy lekcję teraz. Dlaczego? Bo tak!"
Now before we start pondering this difference between knowing and knowing about let's pick up a couple of new words which we can use here:
 English |  Polish |
|---|---|
| GPS (Satnav) | |
| Address |
I know - tricky, tricky, tricky this Polish vocab!
Now ... consider this sentence - "My GPS knows where the bank is because it knows the town". In English we use "to know" twice here but they are two, subtly different, forms of knowing - and in Polish these are different verbs.
To know where the bank is, is to know a factual, concrete thing - to know the location. To know a town (in this context) means to know it's layout which is more of a general awareness. It is to know "about" the town more generally.
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| He knows where the bank is | |
| He knows (about) the town |
So you get:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| My GPS knows where the bank is because it knows (about/of) the town |
Now ... this is subtle ... but basically if you can use "know about" in English you use "Zna" in Polish. So:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| My GPS knows where the bank is because it knows (about) the address |
Overall don't get too hung up on this. Getting them mixed up will not stop you being understood. However if you always ask yourself "Can I use 'about' in English" then use Zna"
OK, let's look at the 'you' form with a new, very short, word:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| What |
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| You know what? I like it! | |
| We know why | |
| What do you know? | |
| You know (about) me now | |
| We know (about) you and we don't have a problem |
So if I was a mafia gangster tapping you up for protection money and you asked what will happen if you don't pay up I could just growl "Znasz mnie".
If you were making wild promises that we know you are never going to keep we might nod our heads, do an eye roll and say "Tak, znamy cię".
Right let's practice a few!
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| Do you know (about) the town? | |
| Does you know (about) the firm? | |
| We know (about) the problem | |
| You know where my house is | |
| Do you know the address? | |
| Do you know what I have? | |
| We know where the old town is | |
| We know a good supermarket | |
| We don't know (about) the town because it's new | |
| Do you know why the house iw white? |
| English | Polish |
|---|
Now, just as we said in an earlier lesson in English, you can say "myślisz że ...." we can also say "You know that".
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| You know (that) it's true |
So let's try a few:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| We know (that) you like coffee | |
| Do you know why the internet doesn't work? | |
| We know (that) we are going to town on Monday | |
| We know it's not true | |
| You think (that) you know (about) me but its not true |
Now what about the 'I form'? Well up until now I've been telling you to throw an 'ę' somewhere on the end and you might be right or you'll certainly be close! - "Myślę", "lubię", "mogę", etc.
However we saw in "mieć" that "Ma" was "He/she/it has" but "Mam" was "I have". It ended in 'm', not 'ę'.
So to come clean the 'm' ending is just as popular as 'ę' but how to choose between the two if you are second guessing the 'I' form of a verb? Well there is no hard and fast rule but I've found if you try the 'ę' and it doesn't look right then try 'm'!
A useful way to remember these two possibilities is that "me" = 'm'+'e'.
So let's look at "Wie" and "Zna". In this case 'znaę' and 'wieę' look wierd and are difficult to say, so it's going to be the 'm' ending:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| I know where the hotel is | |
| I know (about) you |
So let's try a few:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| I know (about) Poland | |
| I don't know (about) the town | |
| I know where the supermarket is but I don't know (about) the town | |
| I know (about) the situation because I have internet | |
| I know (about) your bank and I think (that) it's bad |
And how would you say these "know that" phrases:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| I know (that) it's true | |
| I know (that) you know (that) it's true | |
| I know (that) he knows (that) it's not true | |
| I know (that) you know (that) I have coffee | |
| I know (that) you know (that) it's not legal |
As always how "nielegalny" ends is going to depend on what we are talking about. In the example above we would be talking about a masculine noun (like "dom") because of the 'y' ending on "nielegalny".
If we were talking about a firm then that's a feminine noun so we would use "nielegalna".
And now let's wrap "wiem" the "I think that" style phrases:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| I think (that) I know where the computer is | |
| I think (that) I know (about) you |
I'll go off track here because "Znać" - the 'to form' - ("to know about") has a really useful phrase associated with it.
Not long after I arrived in Poland I walked into the house of a friend holding a can of coke. Her 5 year old daughter ran up to me and shouted "Die, die, die!". "Welcome to Poland too" I thought.
Actually what she was saying was "Daj, daj, daj" which sounds exactly the same as "Die, die, die" but means "Give, give, give". The cheeky sprout was after my fizzy drink!
If she had been a bit older she might have said instead:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| Give me |
Yes I know I said "me" was "mnie" but in this particular case it's just "mi" and sounds exactly the same as "me"in English ... which is nice. We'll get on to the particular reasons why there is "mnie" and "mi" in a later lesson - I'm just squeezing this in here to give you a useful phrase.
Now you're probably not looking to wander around demanding other people hand over whatever they have but you will certainly need this phrase:
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| Let me know (give me awareness) |
Literally "Give me awareness". You would use this on the phone or at a meeting to ask someone to confirm something to you or update you on something when they have more information.
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| When you go to town let me know |
And that last phrase brings us nicely on to "when" - "kiedy".
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| We know when |
So let's try a few phrases with "kiedy" ....
| English | Polish |
|---|---|
| When I go to town, I go to the supermarket | |
| When I have wine, it's good | |
| When I don't have wine, it's bad | |
| When I think I have stress | |
| I know when I have stress |