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- Topic: Polish >
- "Moje urodziny są w lipcu."
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In English birthday is singular, while in in Spanish (my native language) cumpleaños is plural. Took me sometime to figure it out until I said "Okay, in English is singular just the same as cumplea... wait...it's plural o_o )
But... it is not. You wouldn't say "mis cumpleaños", but "mi cumpleaños". If I were to ask someone, I'd say "¿Cuando es tu cumpleaños?", so, gramatically, it is singular (Although the plural, now that I think about it, is exactly the same, which is not usual for Spanish... hm).
That said, I am from Spain. Perhaps it is different in South America, or some parts of it? I'd certainly like to know, if that was the case ^^
Come to think of it, we do have both of them as a singular, for example "I found money in my trouser pocket" or "I spilt jam on my trouser leg"
Scissor can be an adjective, for example "scissor door" or it can be a verb, either to do the act of cutting with scissors "I will scissor the paper" or as an act of mutual pleasure between two people, for sexual reasons.
I can explaine it only using 3 languages I know together. In Russian день рожденья is single. But in Ukraine there are two cases of this meaning. Thr First is день народження, same with Russian meaneng, the second is роковини. The second means you have a single day, but in each year. I think that is why 1 single day can have plural form. Because it is repitable.
moje urodziny są dwudziestego drugiego lipca.
( a very specific date in Poland. It used to be a national holiday when the commies ruled us- to commemorate the date they started ruling. But it was a free day in July, now we have one in the middle of November instead)
July 22 used to be a statutory holiday in Poland - Dwudziesty drugi lipca był kiedyś w Polsce wolnym od pracy świętem narodowym
My birthday is July 22 - Mam urodziny dwudziestego drugiego lipca/ Moje urodziny są dwudziestego drugiego (dnia) lipca/ Dwudziestego drugiego lipca są moje urodziny
I love that in Polish, people say when their birthdays are, not when their birthday is. It makes so much more sense than English when you think about it (coming from a native English speaker)
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Except that you're only born once and have one birth day, when you think about it. So it can go either way. But your remark helps me understand why on earth it would be plural - celebrated every year. Oh.
"birthday" is celebrated every year, so it makes sense, however the word for 'the day/moment of being born' is also plural in Polish... 'narodziny' ;)
It can be singular 'narodzenie' but that's limited to religious usage.
If I want to say"what day was yesterday", should I say"Ktory wczoraj być", and should I answer "Wczoraj być dziewiętnasty czerwca"?
I'd ask "Jaki dzień był wczoraj", although I'd ask "Który dzień jest dzisiaj?" or even "Który dzisiaj jest?"
And "Wczoraj był dziewiętnasty czerwca". It's in the past, so past tense is used, obviously :)
What was the day yesterday? - Jaki był wczoraj dzień?/ Jaki dzień był wczoraj?
It was Thursday yesterday - Wczoraj był czwartek
What was the date yesterday? - Jaka była wczoraj data?/ Jaka wczoraj była data?
It was June nineteenth yesterday - Wczoraj był dziewiętnasty (dzień) czerwca
Can urodziny mean birth? I see a sign at work that says data urodziny as a phrase to ask for the date of birth.
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Possibly, yes – thing is, in Polish we usually use the verbs(„urodzić”, „narodzić” and their reflexive forms) and verbal nouns(„urodzenie”, „narodzenie”) for 'birth', so it possibly requires some rare contexts to work like that.
„Data urodzin”, when taken literally means 'date of birthday(s)', but obviously aside for year, that's the same date. ;) On official papers where you are supposed to fill in your whole date of birth, the field will be titled „Data urodzenia: [blank space]” or „urodzony dnia: [blank space]”.
Polish encyclopaedias usually when writing date of birth in their entries, use form: „[name], urodzony [DD monthname YYYY] w [placename]”.
I have heard of the name day for Polish people. Do you refer to that in the plural? How do you ask what/when someone's name day is?
It's "imieniny" and it's also plurale tantum, right. "Kiedy masz imieniny?", "Kiedy są twoje imieniny" would work. Very straightforward translations :)
