67 Comments
No, it's not formal.
- pani = you (singular, one lady)
- panie = you (plural, more ladies)
- pan = you (singular, one gentleman)
- panowie = you (plural, more gentelmen)
- państwo = you (plural, ladies and gentlemen)
What I was saying was that an answer of "you" for "wy" is really not correct. "Ty" is "You" and "Wy" really translates to "you all"...plural. Akin to ustedes in Spanish.
Standard English uses "you" for both singular and plural, so yes it is plural, and yes "you" is a correct translation.
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"You all" is usually used in dialects of English or for emphasis. In standard English, the plural form of you is you.
That's right. In Middle English, "you" meant the same as Polish wy, and "thou" meant the same as Polish ty. Obviously, "thou" has fallen out of use.
Actually in the standard language spoken im Spain "wy" translates to "vosotros", while "ustedes" is the formal plural second person pronoun ("you").
It's basically not formal... But:
a) in my region, Silesia, it's perfectly fine when you talk that way to elderly people, elderly is a key word here. You can tell an old lady "wy idziecie" (you go), "wy widzicie" (you see), "świetnie się trzymacie" (you look great) - not only it's absolutely correct, it also shows your respect. However, I'm not sure if it follows that pattern in other parts of the country.
b) the word "państwo" - ladies and gentlemen. After that you can use the verb in two different forms. First, the safer one, is third person plural - "państwo widzą" (you see). It is very formal, suitable to e.g. speeches. The second form is second person plural (wy) - "państwo widzicie". Beware, though. It is rather a controversial form (I'm not fond of it, personally, however it is correct). It's suitalble for a quasi-formal situations (e.g. the lecturer talking to students who he knows well).
That makes so much sense! It's very confusing to someone who has studied other indo-European languages. Here is why:
You informal: tu (French), tú (Spanish), ты (Russian), ти (Ukrainian) etc... You formal: vous (French- also the plural form), вы (Russian), ви (Ukrainian)
Then I get confused because Mexican Spanish uses usted to be formal but Spain has a vosotros form, like the French, Russian, and Ukrainian. But I'm not sure if it's used the same. So you can see why I would automatically assume that wy in Polish is a formal or even formal plural hybrid way to say "you."
Oh, sure, I understand - but in Polish it doesn't work the same way, unfortunately. The usual manner is "Pan/Pani" + 3rd person singular ("jeśli pani pozwoli" - if you allow me) when talking to a single person or "Państwo" + 3rd person plural (SOMETIMES 2nd person plural) when talking to many people.
(sorrry to talk about spanish in the polish course but "vosotros" isn't formal either, it's only plural. "Usted" is the only formal word for 2nd person singular. You are confusing "ustedes" with "usted")
I think that could have been the case in the past before WW1 among the lower classes. The use of "pan" form comes likely from the noble class, and it later spread into the general population.
Not anymore, however it used to be so during the communist period, likely influenced by Russian.
Yes so I don't know why they don't help us out by giving us what you wrote as a prompt for the Polish.
Or what about youse pronounced 'use" ? Very much in use in Liverpool England for the 1st person plural.
should be you all, like "ihr" in German source: Native speaker is sitting next to me.
Yes, but standard English doesn't use "you all" as a pronoun. You normally use "you" regardless of number.
'You all' is also geographically limited. It's in no way a standard plural of 'you' for all speakers.
The comment by Vengir is appropriate..Yes, off the cuff here, I would say that "you all" is either a colloquialism or a translator's/interpreter's concession to context. The word "you" signifies a plural audience just as much as a singular one. "You all" is not a pronoun.
Oh, a note just in case. We've later decided to accept "you all" as a correct translation for Polish second person plural. It might not be the most typical answer, but if it helps you learn…
"Y'all" will go through and be counted as correct as well. If you are having a hard time keeping the plural vs. non-plural translation straight in your head, this can help. This is how my French teacher in high school would help make it easier for us to remember the difference. Then again I also live in a state where "y'all" is common vocabulary, so I guess whatever works best for y'all ;)
I keep seeing comments that "you" in english can be plural, or singular but i disagree, at least in the sense that it's never used like that in conversation. It's almost always used with another word when plural. Looking at a group of people and adressing them; i've always heard "you guys", "you all" (mentioned in a previous comment), "you two" (or three etc), or any plural noun really ("you slackers" "you ladies"). Even in formal speaches "you" is used to address the singular audience, or crowd (as in "you, the graduating class of..."). Perhaps in 'standard' english it can be plural but having back to back lessons where two different words translate to "you" is very confusing, at least to this english speaker.
Not true. We say "you," when talking to more than one person, all the time. "You all," "you guys," etc., is colloquial. So it's not so confusing. When you speak to one person, informally you use the ty conjugation of the verb, and when you're speaking to more then one person informally, you use the wy conjugation of the verb.
When you talk to one person, it's ty. When you talk to more than one person, it's wy.
Don't you think that you shouldn't write incorrect comments?
Wy = you (plural)
Oni = they
It's a hint that the word translates as the plural "you", not just any "you". For more info see earlier comments.
Thanks for your reply. I know it's plural, but when I tried using "You" & "Pl." it shows as incorrect answer. Why was it a possible answer when I can't use it? (it showed up to me in the Android app as one of the answer choices, blocks of answers and I choose the correct ones in the correct order).
It's a known bug that the app will show you blocks that aren't supposed to be used (these represent the grayed out hints in the desktop version). Try ignoring the "Pl." block completely and only use "You" in the translation.
It is like vosotros. Ustedes would be "panowie" (gentlemen), "panie" (ladies), "państwo" (mixed group).
I enter the answer "You" and it will not accept it as being correct. Have done it over and over and problem exists both in SINGULAR AND IN PLURAL.....
I just explained you in a different comment. "Ty" is "You" when you talk to one person, "Wy" is for more people,
I am her boyfriend, Polish and would never say it is WY - the accent is too bad
"They" is either "Oni" (if it's a group of males or a mixed group of males and females) or "One" (if it's a group of females only). "Wy" is plural "You".
