40 Comments
Please some native make this clear to me: I lived in Poland for almost a year and I NEVER figured out the point of the day where you switched from dzień dobry to dobry wieczór. When can you use one and the other?
The difference is very flexible. It's bit like "dzień dobry" would be the most general, appropriate for all times and "dobry wieczór" more specific - only in the evening. I read that according to etiquette we should use dzień dobry till it's dark and if we're inside and don't know if it's already dark - till 5pm.
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The boundary is very flexible, it is not very awkward to use one or another around sunset.
I've heard 'dzień dobry' at all times of the day and night, though 'dobry wieczór' is more common in the evening (or actually, from maybe 6pm to ... dawn?)
Is this a usual combination? Does dzień dobry carry its literal meaning, or is it mainly a polite greeting?
sometimes the software allows you to answer dzien dobry as hello, sometimes as good morning, can someone fix this please :)
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Cześć is a mostly informal greeting you say to people you know, and you're "na ty" with.
Dzień dobry is more formal, for people you either don't know, are higher in the social hierarchy, or for other reason you're "na pan" with, or in general when you want to sound formal.
so there is no actual Good morning in Polish?.. The phrase is the same for morning and day/afernoon?..
You can use "dzień dobry" all through the day (it's ok also in the evening), "dobry wieczór" only in the evening. It's more flexible than in English or other languages. If some one greets you with "dzień dobry" even at 9PM is ok. And you can answer also "dzień dobry" or "dobry wieczór". More informal - "cześć" can be also used all through the day.
Is there a difference in pronunciation between "cz" and "ć" or is there some spelling rule about when to use one or the other that I am not aware of?
to a native speaker those are two different sounds. you form your mouth differently and place tongue in different places.
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Cześć! Why is good morning "dzień dobry" and good evening "dobry wieczór"? I mean why change the position of "dobry"?
The reason is not logical or meaning - it's just the history of the language. The orgins of the greetings are prayers. It used to be said "Boże wam daj dobry dzień'' (let God give you a good day) or „Pan Bóg daj dobry wieczór'' (let God give [you] a good evening). Then they were reduced, and then around 2nd half of 17th century the word sentence was changed (and it was wieczór dobry) but then the old form (dobry wieczór) got back, but "dzień dobry" stayed in this new way.
There's no need to say "Cześć" and "Dzień dobry" in the same sentence. It sounds very strange.
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The "strangeness" doesn't matter. What matters is the vocabulary it is teaching.
Of course it does. Usage is a major part of language, and it's just as easy to give good examples of usage as bad ones.
Indeed, it's a nonsensical combination (though I can image it's used if, say, you enter a room and say cześć to some people - like kids - and dzień dobry to others)
Why is the adjective after the noun in this expression? I thought that in Slavic languages the adjectives are generally before the noun? Is it an exception or what's the reason for this?
1) It's a greeting, treat it as a set phrase. We have dzień dobry-dobty wieczór- dobranoc (good day-good evening- goodnight ) each one is deifferent than other
2) In Polish adjectives are generally before noun but there are many situations where adjective can be after a noun - you can treat them as exceptions or "set phrases", but there is a rule for it. (when they determine the thing, make them distinct form others, and not just describe them), I'm not sure if dzień dobry is example of this rule. more like "niedzwiedź polarny"=polar bear
Can someone explain to me why it is "Dzien dobry" and not "Dobry dzien." I remember my grandmother saying it as "Dobry dzien," but of course she might be wrong as she never lived in Poland and only had learned some Polish from her mother. Sorry and thank you!
Well... it's just the convention. There isn't really any interesting, satisfying answer. "Dobry dzień" would actually be more logical, but if I said that, that would sound like some kind of a weird, small linguistic joke, like trying to greet someone in Czech.
From my experience Cześć is Hi! or Bye! and Dzień dobry is Hello (replacing good morning and good afternoon - a good literal equivalent to "G'day" in Australia) --replaced by "Dobry wieczór" just as any English native speaker would switch to Good evening - there's no set rule on time or whether the sun has gone down.
Dzień dobry 'doubles' as Good morning or Good afternoon, but IS NOT either - just G'Day?
Well, I would rather say that "Dzień dobry" is both "Good [morning/afternoon]", and "hello"... it's hard to say what it is, it's definitely not as formal as "dzień dobry", but it's also not informal... it's something in between. But we'd say that it's closer to "cześć".
Neither. It's [d͡ʑɛ̝̃ɲ], hard to compare to any English word. The first sound is palatalized, then you have a clear 'e' and n is also palatalized.
Would you use "dobry wieczór" as a greeting, or more as a goodbye?
If I was saying Good Evening to someone in English, it would typically be in a greeting. Is it the same here?
Yes, (almost) only as a greeting. You could perhaps say "Dobrego wieczoru" (which implies something like "(Życzę ci) dobrego wieczoru" = "(I wish you a) good evening") for a goodbye - but that doesn't seem common to me.
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Does duolingo pronounce this wrong? I've checked online and Polish people pronounce it with an English sounding e
