Polish language

Polish

Spoken in:	Poland Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia (Europe), Slovakia, Ukraine, UAE, USA.
Total speakers:	46 Million
Ranking:	22
Genetic classification:	Indo-European  Slavic   West    Lekhitic     Polish
Official status
Official language of:	Poland, also Vilnius county, Lithuania
ISO 639-1:	pl
ISO 639-2:	pol
SIL:	PQL

History

Classification

Geographic distribution

Dialects

Small numbers of people also speak Belarusian, Ukrainian, and German as well as several varieties of Romany.

Sounds

Grammar

Nouns, adjectives and verbs are inflected, and both noun declension and verb conjugation are highly irregular. Every verb is either perfective or imperfective.

Verbs often come in pairs, one of them imperfective and the other perfective (usually imperfective verb with a prefix), but often there are many perfective verbs with different prefixes for single imperfective words.

Tenses are:

construction	(for perfective verbs)	(for imperfective verbs)	example imperfective	example perfective
verb+ić	infinitive	infinitive	robić	zrobić
verb+suffix	future simple tense	present tense	robicie	zrobicie
past participle+suffix	past perfect tense	past imperfect tense	robiliście	zrobiliście
(this suffix can be moved)			coście robili	coście zrobili

Movable suffix is usually attached to verb or to the most accented of sentence, like question preposition.

Sometimes alone suffix with prefix że- appears.

So what have you done ? can be:

• co zrobiliście
• coście zrobili
• co żeście zrobili

All these forms are used without a subject -- "wy" ("you" in plural). Of course, it is possible to use the subject along, but it sounds well only in the first sentence (the other two are stronger, with the stress on the verb, so the subject is not so important):

• co wy zrobiliście
• coście zrobili (in fact, a Polish won't use subject here)
• co żeście zrobili (as above)
• co wyście zrobili (here the stress goes to "you" -- "wy"+ście)

Past participle depends on number and gender, so 3rd person, singular past perfect tense can be:

• zrobił (he made/did)
• zrobiła (she made/did)
• zrobiło (it made/did)

Vocabulary

Writing system and pronunciation

a, ą, b, c, ć, d, e, ę, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ł, m, n, ń, o, ó, p, q, r, s, ś, t, u, v, w, x, y, z, ź, ż,
A, Ą, B, C, Ć, D, E, Ę, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, Ó, P, Q, R, S, Ś, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Ź, Ż

The letters q, v and x are used only in foreign words. It uses 9 special characters, and some character pairs to represent sounds not available in the Latin alphabet.

"b d f k l m n p s t z" are pronounced like in English.

• "a" is pronounced like "u" in "cut"
• "c" is pronounced "ts" (a single sound).
• "e" is pronounced like "e" in "bed"
• "g" is always hard, like in "game" not like "gene".
• "h" is pronounced like "ch" in Scottish "loch".
• "i" is pronounced like "i" and before other vowel like "y". It softens the consonant before it.
• "j" is pronounced like "y".
• "o" is pronunced like "a" in "call"
• "r" is vibrating (like in Italian or Spanish)
• "u" is pronounced like "oo" in "food"
• "w" is pronounced like "v".
• "y" is pronounced like "i", but it doesn't soften the consonant before it.

Special letters are:

• "ą" - prononuced like "o", "on", "ong" or "om".
• "ć" - pronounced like soft "ch".
• "ę" - pronounced like "e", "en", "eng" or "em"
• "ł" - pronounced like "w".
• "ń" - pronounced like soft "n".
• "ó" - pronounced like "oo" in "food".
• "ś" - pronounced like soft "sh".
• "ź" - pronounced like soft "zh".
• "ż" - pronounced like hard "zh".

Special letter pairs are:

• "ch" - pronounced like in Scottish "loch".
• "ci" - pronounced like "ć" (before a vowel) or "ći" (otherwise)
• "cz" - pronounced like hard "ch".
• "dz" - pronounces like "dz" (a single sound).
• "dź" - pronounced like soft "j".
• "dż" - pronounced like hard "j".
• "rz" - pronounced like hard "zh".
• "si" - pronounced like "ś" (before a vowel) or "śi" (otherwise)
• "sz" - pronounced like hard "sh".
• "zi" - pronounced like "ź" (before a vowel) or "źi" (otherwise)

See also:

• Slavic languages
• Slavic peoples
• Poland
• Common phrases in different languages

Referenced By