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Lesson 6: To have and Red and White

So we know how to say we would like something and we even know the 'to' form of the verb 'to have'. Now let's start using it further.

But first, as always ... "Może dzień dobry, Może dobry wieczor" - all depends what time it is with you!

OK ... "Dalej"

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I have a lesson

Now let's say we need to get the dictionary term for "lesson", perhaps we want to say "It is a lesson". We can think this out without having to learn it:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
It is a lesson

Exercises like this, even when you don't need to do them, all help in remembering word endings in different cases so always take the opportunity to do them regularly.

We've also got a new word - "lekcja" - which is pretty easy to remember because it sounds a bit like 'lecture'. You might have spotted it ends 'cja and you would guess correctly that there is an English word "lection" which means 'reading' but has fallen out of popular use over the last two hundred years. There you go - learn Polish and discover your own language at the same time!

OK, it should be pretty easy for you to think out the following before revealing them!

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I have it
I have a normal house
I have a good telephone
I have your wine

And remembering again our rule for feminine nouns (words that are things - like "Kawa") and adjectives (words that describe things - like "Dobry"). What happens to them when they are together after a verb?

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I have (a) good coffee
I have normal ambition
I have a dramatic situation
I have your bag

"Tak Jest!" Again, don't worry too much about word ordering - especially for things like "normalną ambicję" or "sytyację dramatyczne" - you will be perfectly understood if you said them the other way around.

I have the name ...

Now in English we say "My name is Tim". In Polish we say "I have for a name Tim". Another use of "I have"

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I have for a name Tim (My name is Tim)

I hope so

Here's another very useful that involves "Mam". "I hope so" is expressed "I have hope".

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I have hope (I hope so)

You will hear this a lot on Tok FM radio. Someone is asked a question and they reply "I hope so".

I do like "Mieć" because it is so beautifully short and so easy to remember and pronounce! Now some other good news is that the word for "Problem" in Polish is exactly the same as the word in English. So let's use that good news to express some bad news!

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
It's a problem
I have a problem

If you have a Polish friend/tutor/partner start using this every time you are asking a question about something you don't understand in Polish just to get the practice in ... and obviously to impress!

Now if you work for, or have ever worked for, a blue chip company you might have found they don't like the word "problem" being used. In one of the places I worked they argued that problems were just opportunities in disguise and so the word "problem" was banned for its negativity. Instead you had to say "I have an opportunity".

Opportunities don't happen all the time, they happen on "occasions" which is the word in Polish ... and that means you actually know the Polish word for "opportunity" already

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
It's an opportunity
I have an opportunity

OK - I lied a bit. If we followed the rules in lesson 2 we would have come out with "okacja" which would have put you in the ball park. But if you said "Mam okacje" I am 99% positive you would be understood and as this is all about getting you communicating at the moment we're all good.

Now if you are starting to listen to Polish radio (see the resources page for a couple of good online stations) start listening for words like "okazja" during the adverts. It's heavily used in all time limited offers such as "a sale this weekend" is "To dobra okazja!".

"Dobra? To super!" - because in Polish "Super" is often used to mean "Great" as in "Fantastic".

Bilet Normalny

Yes, "Promocja" is "Promotion" but you already knew that because "Promotion" ends in 'tion'! The only new word there is "Cena" which means "Price"

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Promotion! Super price! Super opportunity!

Red and White

OK, let's learn a little more vocab with our first two colors. The most important colors as it happens because these are the two which make up the Polish flag! Or from my point of view these are the only two types of wine worth talking about (Rose ... really ... what were they thinking!).

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
White
Red

So how to remember these? Well luckily there is a song which you will hear if you ever watch or go to an international sports match and there is a Polish team playing. Here it is from one very dedicated sports fan! See if you can pick out "Biały" and "Czerwony"!

Now you're probably thinking it sounds more like he is singing "Biało" and "Czerwoni" and that's because he is! We already know adjectives (words that describe a thing - like "dobry", "zły", etc) change their endings in certain situations ... and colors are adjectives - they describe a thing but they are not the thing.

But the endings are normally 'a', 'e' or 'y'. Colors have an extra rule that kicks in when you are listing a number of colors. All the words end 'o' except the last color which ends 'i' - We'll come to that again when we learn more colors.

For now let's practive our white and red using the standard rules we applied to "dobry":

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I have (a) white coffee
I have (a) white wine
I have a white house

If you listen to or watch the news you will hear "Biały dom" said quite often as they are referring to the White House in Washington USA so that's a really useful one to know.

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
I have a red telephone
I have a/the red bag
I have (a) red wine

There are a few other bits of fun and useful vocab in that video so if you are going to listen to the song a few times why not pick them up while we are here:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Poland
To (the) battle
All together now
Pay attention!

Now every time you sit down to learn Polish rub your hands together and say "Do boju". Hopefully with this course it isn't too much of a battle but it will just help you learn another couple of great words.

You will hear "razem" a lot if you listen to parents playing with their kids of even kids playing with each other. They say "Razem, razem" which basically means "Let's do this together".

It was also a central theme for a political party (PO) in one election. Here's a poster they used:

Plakat - Donald Tusk 'Razem'

The campaign was meant to appeal to an electorate tired of divisive politics at the time - basically saying "Let's work together to make this country better". And it seemed to work because they won by a landslide.

Well there you go - I got politics into the course and it's only lesson 6!

Now if you want to take a short break try searching YouTube for "Polska, Biało Czerwoni" and you'll find lots of videos of Polish fans singing the song at matches. Enough to drum those words into your head forever!!!

The different forms of 'you'

Just before we get into "you have" we need to cover the different forms of 'you'. If you have learnt any other European languages you will be familiar that verbs like "Mieć" have different forms depending on which "you" is being used:

As there is a lot to cover in Polish basics I'm only going to cover 'Informal you' to start with. Everyone I've ever met is very tolerant when a foreigner doesn't use the 'formal you' and appreciate far more that you have made the effort to learn some Polish.

We'll cover the other 'you' forms later so you can start being more respectful soon!

You (informal) have

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
You (informal) have

Pretty simple and easy to say!

Now one of the most comon forms of "Masz" that you will hear and use is to check if someone has something.

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
You (informal) have it?

So try working out these questions:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
You (informal) have my 'phone?
You (informal) have white wine?
You (informal) have your ticket?
You (informal) have a bluetooth adapter?

Now let's go back to that name thing again. In Polish I say "I have for a name". If we are asking someone for their name we also use 'to have' - "How do you have for a name?". A bit like the English "How are you called?"

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
How do you (informal) have for a name? (What's your name?)

I'm just dropping this phrase in here because, of course, it's useful. However don't start thinking that "Jak" means "How" all the time. It's a flexible word that can take on different meanings which we'll discover later.

Back to "Masz" in general. Of course it can also be used as a statement. Take some time and see if you can work these out before revealing them:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Now you (informal) have a white house, white wine and white coffee
Now you (informal) have wine and coffee together

Another really useful thing about "Masz" is using it to tell someone they are right or correct in their views on a subject. In English we use 'to be' - "You are right" - but in Polish it's more like "You have it right"

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
You're right (informal)

And if you work "rację" back so it is in the not-after-a-verb form we get "racja" which as you may have guessed also translates as "reason". So perhaps we can translate this better as "You reason [well]" which is a great mental hook to remember the Polish.

Remember this is only used to agree with a view point such as someone's political or religous views. It's not used to say they are correct about, say, an answer to a mathematical exercize or such like.

It's also subtly different from the "To prawda" ("It's true") that we learnt earlier. With "to prawda" you are saying that you agree something is factually true. "Masz rację" is more agreeing with a point of view ... although in this day and age it does get harder to find the line between fact and opinion!

OK - time to do our case reversal exercise again. We've got "Masz rację" so we how can we find the dictionary term?

He/she/it has

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
He/she/it has

Beautifully simple! So simple in fact that we can easily learn some more vocab before using it. Let's pick up some IT related words:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
Computer
Laptop
Tablet
Notebook
Monitor
Mouse
Keyboard

That wans't too painful! The only tricky one in there is "Klawiatura" which also means "keyboard" as in the piano or electric keyboard.

So here is a mental hook. There is a product known as a "Disklavier" which can be attached to pianos. It has multiple sensors and can record how a piano is played - the strength of the key strokes, their length, pedal movement, etc. It can then play back not by speakers but by replicating those key strokes, lengths, pedal movements, etc.

"Disklavier" has that "klawia' sound in it that we find in "Klawiatura" so if you are trying to remember the word think:

Or if you think that is completely insane just bank yourself on the head with your keyboard until you remember the word "Klawiatura"!

So let's practice these new words with the 'he/she/it' form of "Mieć" ... and listen especially to how they are pronounced. Don't forget that "Klawiatura" ends in 'a' (which means it is which gender?) and it is coming after a verb

Ah and "mysz" is also feminine ... one of those exceptions! But just remember one of those old cartoons of a woman standing on a chair after seeing a mouse and you'll remember the connection!

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
He/she has a good computer
He/she has a white laptop
He/she has a red tablet
He/she has a bad notebook
He/she has a good monitor
He/she has a bad mouse
He/she has a good keyboard

Now just to flag it up: "Zły" - can also mean "wrong". "Ma zły notebook" - "He/she has the wrong notebook". It depends on the context.

Also any of the above could relate to 'it' ... again depending on the context. Say, for example, we were talking about a laptop. If I said "Ma dobrą klawiaturę" it would be understood that I would be talking about 'it', the computer, having a good keyboard. If I was talking about a female friend it would be understood that I was saying "She has a good keyboard".

Emotions

And we can also use "mieć" as we do in English to describe emotional states ... many of which have very similar words in Polish:

EnglishEnglishPolishPolish
He/she has depression
He/she has stress
He/she is in a good mood

A note on verb endings

Now that we have started working through our first verb it's worth noting some patterns because they are going to occur over and over again ... and when you know they are there you can often guess verb endings correctly.

We'll see these patterns over and over again going forward although the 'I' form will also often end in 'ę' ... just to keep you on your toes!

OK - so the final exercise for today is to wander around wherever you are - point at things and say "Mam ..." and whatever the thing is. If you don't know what the word is you can use "Mam to".

Lesson 9: To not have and Big and Small