18 Comments
I think it's scary in all languages, specially if it comes from a woman...
What is the difference between porozmawiać and rozmawiać? Does it mean to talk about something specific (and finish talking about it) rather than talk in general?
Yes, I think you're right. Rozmawiać is the general continuous action of talking, porozmawiać is having a conversation and finishing it, that's why it s called "perfective". Also this is why porozmawiać cannot be used to describe an action that is taking place right now, as in "they are talking about food".
"we should talk" translates to "powinniśmy porozmawiać", which is not as forceful as "musimy porozmawiać" - "we MUST talk".
more specifically, should/powinniśmy implies that there is a choice- it's just that the speaker thinks not talking is the wrong one. Need to/musimy means the only option is to talk.
: ) Hi Mr. Jellei. I'm not certain but I think FakeDiamond might have been trying to clarify why we "need" to talk is being allowed for this sentence? Are the words : "need" "must" and " have" interchangeable if it's an unspoken but implied understanding that this particular "need" will without fail be fulfilled? Like in English, if you used a forceful or exaggerated tone when saying " we NEED to talk! " I guess it could give the understanding that hey, apparently this communication is going to happen whether I want to be a willing party to it or not. (Or maybe this isn't what FakeDiamond had in mind at all....)
Actually 'need to' seems (almost) synonymous to 'have to', at least from the point of view of Polish. Maybe using "potrzebować" + a verb wouldn't be wrong, but it seems unusual to me in Polish, so "Potrzebujemy porozmawiać" is not something I would say. I'd go with "Musimy porozmawiać" anyway.
Why is "We must have a talk" is considered a wrong translation? 1) 'Porozmawiać' vs. 'rozmawiać' look like 'have a talk' vs. 'talk' 2) 'Must' vs. 'need', when it is about modality, look like 'musić' vs. 'potrzebować' 1) and 2) above are, of course, IMHO :)
"need to", "have to" and "must" really seem the same from the point of view of Polish, I wouldn't say "Potrzebujemy porozmawiać". All three work.
"have a talk"... sounds fine to me, added :)
