Home Lessons Tables FAQs Resources

What you know so far [Toggle]

Lesson 2: Similar Words - English words ending 'ic', or 'ical'

We've seen in Lesson 1 how you can follow simple rules to change English words ending 'al' into Polish. The same is true for English words ending 'ic', 'ical'

But before we dive in there - at the end of the previous lesson I asked you why the Polish word for "Scandal" was a scandal.

Hopefully you got it. It's a scandal because it doesn't follow the rule for words ending 'al'. We don't add 'ny' to it!

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Scandal

Now if you start listening to the news on Polish radio or TV you are going to hear this word a lot. Everything other political parties do is a "Skandal".

And of course, just like in every other country, the opposition parties will claim so many things are in "Crisis". The NHS is in crisis, education is in crisis, etc. Well "Crisis" is a very similar word in Polish, let's pick it up here so you can listen out for it in every day Polish.

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Crisis

So how would you become an instant Polish politician and say "It's a scandal" and "It's a crisis".

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
It's a scandal
It's a crisis

English words ending 'ic' or 'ical'

OK. Let's get onto the main theme of the lesson - English words ending 'ic' and 'ical'.

Now I think the number one place you are going to hear and use this is in the word "Tragic".

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Tragic

So try the rule on the following words:;

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Political
Dramatic

Now Polish is written as it sounds which means, for example, if a 'c' sounds like a 'k' then it is a 'k' .... and if a word sounds like 'eg - zot - ik' then why muck around with an 'x' for no reason!

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Exotic
Electric / Electrical

OK - a bit of a refinement. If you have a hard sounding letter (like 't' or 'd') close to the 'ic' or 'ical' in English then the ending is - as we have seen - 'yczny'. Otherwise the ending is 'iczny'.

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Logical
Historical

These basic rules give you access to a huge trove of vocabulary that can help you make your Polish sound far more advanced than it is and certainly put you streets ahead of standard Polish courses that think it's very important you can express the fact that you are eating an apple or carrying a duck.

So let's try thinking out a Polish word rather than learning it parrot fashion. Let's go for "Ecological"

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Ecological

Now seriously don't get too hung up about your 'yczny' and 'iczny' endings. If, for now, you just want to stick with 'yczny' do it - you will be perfectly understood. As you hear and speak more and more Polish these endings will start to come more naturally to you.

So dive in and have a go porting these words into Polish! If you need to use a pen and paper to work through your thinking. This will also help you learn the words much faster

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Idiotic
Public
Romantic
Drastic

And now try a few out with "To jest"

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
It is ecological
It is public
It is romantic

Now one that is useful but doesn't quite follow the rules is "Technical".

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Technical

Here we see one of those very, very rare examples where Polish is using 'ch' instead of 'k' to get a 'k' sound. I don't know the origins of this but probably because this word was part imported from English or another language and then 'Polished'"

Right, lets start making full sentences. Don't try and remember the answers, try and think them with the rules you now have. It might take a little longer now but they'll sink in faster.

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
It's a tragic scandal
It's an ecological product
It's an eletctrical product

And let's bring in some more vocab. The first one up is 'report' which is said and written the way a Texan might say "Give me the god damn report". Can you guess?

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Report

So let's use that with our 'yczne' rule.

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
It is an ecological report
It is an idiotic report
It is a public report
It is a logical report

Next up is the word "problem" which is written exactly the same way in Polish as in English, we just need to apply those pronounciation rules like pushing down on the penultimate syllable and rolling the 'r'.

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Problem

And let's put that into action;

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
It is a technical problem
It is an ecological problem
It is an electrical problem

We're on a roll. Let's pick up our next word - "colour" which is said, and written, the way it sounds ... if it sounds like a 'k' it is a 'k'

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Colour

And let's think out how to use this:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
It is a romantic colour
It is a dramatic colour
It is an ecological color

Take some time to play around with this 'ical' rule. Just think up some English words that end in 'ical', try flipping them to Polish and use Google Translate to see if you got it write.

Try this exercise when you are on a bus, in the bath or just out for a walk! Here are a few to get you started.

Then see if you can link them up with any of the vocab you have such as "It's a critical product" or "It's a practical report".

And look into "Radical". What rule does it follow which makes it 'radical'?

Summary

OK, let's summarize a few key learning points:

Lesson 3: Similar Words - English words ending 'tion', 'tional' or 'phy'