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- Topic: Polish >
- "Ja jem jabłko."
56 Comments
You're right, Poles in most situations just skip it :) Form of the verb already indicates the subject.
It is skipped always, unless in some complex sentence it is necessary for understanding who is doing what (but even then it is not really obligatory): "Ja jem jabłko, a ona gruszkę" - I am eating an apple, and she [is eating] a pear. It is obligatory when the point of the phrase is to stress some kind of contrast between the persons involved.
Is there a difference in the verbs for "eats" and "am eating"? Ir doesnt in matter?
It is a bit tricky... When you say "(Ja) Jem jabłko" (singular) - it means "I am eating an apple". From the point of view of Polish grammar an expression "I eat an apple" makes no sense, because you cannot eat one apple for several hours (well, you can, but polish grammar would treat it as present continuous), nor you can eat the same apple again and again. Only when you specify "Jem jabłko każdego dnia" it would translate to Simple Present "I eat an apple every day".
But when you say "Jem jabłka" (plural) it means either that you eat apples habbitually, hence it translates to "I eat apples", or that you have several apples to eat in a row: "I am eating apples". You have to make it out from the context what would be the best translation. Sometimes, there are added words for better clarification - like: "Ja zawsze/zwykle/czasami jem jabłka" - "I always/usually/sometimes eat apples" or "Jem teraz jabłka/jabłko" - "I am eating apples/an apple now".
There are also other verbs for eating: "jadać" - "to eat from time to time" , "jeść" or "zjadać" - "to eat now /to eat continuously" and "zjeść" - "to 'have eaten'" (yes, I know that the last one it is not correct in English, but this verb is used to create only perfective tenses: it has prefective aspect).
Polish doesn't have present continous, so "(ja) jem jabłko" = "I eat an apple" and "I am eating an apple"
The conjugation of jeść in present tense
- I eat - (ja) jem
- you (sg.) eat - (ty) jesz
- he/she/it eats - on/ona/ono je
- we eat - (my) jemy
- you (pl.) eat - (wy) jecie
- they eat - oni/one jedzą
so for the word "Je" to be used the sentance would have to be "On je jabłko."?
- "je" = (he/she/it) eats
- "jem" = (I) eat
can anyone send me a link to an in-depth on the grammar of polish? im having real trouble iwth the middle word
Maybe one of these would be helpful:
- http://www.skwierzyna.net/polishgrammar.pdf
- http://www.seelrc.org:8080/grammar/pdf/compgrammar_polish.pdf
- http://lektorek.org/lektorek/grammar.pdf
but I cannot guarantee any usability of these, I just used google search to find them, although the last one seems to be a pretty in-depth.
Well, it just means "ja". It's not needed here because "jem" already means "I eat/I am eating", but you may use the subject pronoun explicitly to show emphasis.
Read the older comments, please.
- Ja jem jabłko. → I am eating an apple.
- Ona je jabłko. → She is eating an apple.
As in Polish, in the Italic languages you can skip the subject (but, at least in Portuguese, you usually don't do it, just when it is in the gerund form (like in English 'doing')) (and also in German, Turkish, and other languages that you can conjugate)
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"je" is 3rd person singular, "ja" is 1st person singular.
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It's "jabłko". ł (Ł) is a variant of L, not T. So if you don't have Polish characters (but it's really advisable to use them), at least write "jablko".
Maybe some sentences are misspelled, but I just want to know if the "ł" could be skipped? e.g. Jabko instead of Jabłko
In writing it has to be jaBŁko. It it is spelled differently you should report it.
In speaking if is often japko/jabko.
Ł is skipped because you kinda can't say jabłko without inserting U between B and Ł so people simplified it. But the correct pronounciation should be JABUŁKO
It is right because i checked on translater and it said i am eating an apple
with the new audio system we cannot indicate tje right word, so it is always a mistake!!!
I forgot to put a 'n' for "I am eating an apple (Jem ja jablako) and It counted me as wrong. What?
- The phrase is in indicative mood. In indicative mood the preferred word order is Pronoun - Verb - Object, while the order Verb - Pronoun - Object, that you have used, may be used in interrogative mood. Besides, where possible, in Polish we try to avoid sequences that resemble stuttering, like "ja jabłko".
- In Polish "apple" is "jabłko". You wrote "jabłako", which is similar to "jabłoko" ("яблоко") in Russian.
802
If I understand correctly, did you write 'a apple' instead of 'an apple'? If so this would be an unacceptable English grammar mistake.
br0d4 just wrote a day ago that "je" is 3rd person singular. How is that impersonal?
