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What is the difference between “iść” and “chodzić"? Do they both mean "to go by foot"? Are they interchangeable?
I was confused about this also. I'm just learning Polish but what I've figured out is Oni chodzą = they walk (this is something they do often, but maybe not right at this moment) Oni idą = they are walking. (they are in doing this now)
If I am wrong, will a native speaker please correct me?
Generally, yes. Oni chodzą = They walk, they go (on foot); Oni idą = They are walking, they are going (on foot).
With one exception, that "They are walking" (right now, but just walking around, no purpose/direction etc.) is also "Oni chodzą".
As well as that, I have found that iść is continuous. An example would be walking or going to school: idę do szkołę. However you would not use the same verb if you were going to go on a 10 km hike that you were not planning to do again.
Idę do szkoły :)
I'm not sure what you mean by the hike sentence... that sounds like "Idę" (right now or planning to go once). Or is that exactly what you meant?
'They are walking' would be 'Oni idą'. 'Chodzą' implies that the action is repeated.
It definitely sounds like she says "chodzom" instead of "chodza", but chodzom makes no sense.
Okay. I should probably study some phonetics somewhere else because I don't get it.
I'm not a native Polish speaker. I am American. The only nasal sounds we have in English are 'm' and 'n'. Polish has these sounds, and also the nasal 'e' and 'a'. You can get almost perfect Polish pronunciation if you just say 'e' or 'a' , but let air escape through your nose (A nasal vowel). We don't have anything like this in English. The closest we have is 'om' and 'on' as in 'dawn'. So actually, hearing 'om' is the closest to what we English speakers hear in English.
