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- "To przez ciebie!"
35 Comments
Przez is across, over or through in English. It is not 'because' in any Polish dictionary I have ever seen. It may, of course, have some kind of Polish idiomatic meaning in this sentence, but neither this course nor any other course I know about has ever taught this meaning.
https://pl.pons.com/t%C5%82umaczenie/polski-angielski/przez
That's the very first dictionary I checked and, well, it's in there.
No it doesn't :D I was responding to the previous comment. I was commenting via (przez!) the app, so I didn't see how old that previous comment was...
No? 'It is through you that I have come to appreciate this' There is no religion in that.
OK, wrong association. But your sentence is clearly positive. "To przez ciebie" is definitely negative.
Just to illustrate the meaning and the negativity. A minute from "Harry Potter" in Polish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2KIbN2UA58 "Straciłem przez ciebie sługę!" ("You lost me my servant!")
Pan Luciusz Malfoy is impressive enough to help to remember the word easier, I think :)
1325
In english, "It is because of you" does not have to be negative. Good things can happen because of someone else. "Thanks to you" is an alternative way of expressing that idea. What makes this phrase so definitely negative in Polish?
- 1325
Ok, "przez" = negative. Tks.
We can look at "because of" both ways in English. In fact, "thanks to you" can also be used ironically as a negative.
That turned out badly, thanks to you !
We can also use "no thanks to you".
That turned out well, no thanks to you.
Jellei - You state that 'To przez ciebie' is a negative expression. Can you tell me, please, how to express something like Stewart288923's thoughts, as in 'It's through you that I can buy the ticket' (because she gave me the extra money)? Dzięki!
Not sure how to distinguish between this meaning 'because of' and 'for'. They are two very different things.
I'm not a native Polish speaker, but I would guess that it could only mean 'for' in the sense of 'because', i.e. "Don't worry, for I shall slay this dragon!" Which is, of course, pretty old-fashioned in English. Hopefully a Polish native speaker can correct me if I am wrong.
I would say 'It is through you' rather than 'because ' of you and here the Polish is exactly the same word as in English. (But doubtless this is not a US expression...)
In what context would you use it? Only religious ones come to my mind. And I really don't know if something like that would be said the same way in Polish... generally this is equivalent to "This is your fault!".
You could say "it is through you that i got work", synonymous to because in this instance.
I'm reminded of the old letter sent in to school by the parent of an absentee student: "Please excuse Timmy from school this week, he has been ill with diarrhoea through a hole in his wellingtons."
'Through' can definitely be used as a synonym for 'because' in English.
I can't find any Polish to English dictionary that translates "przez" as "because", or vice versa
I recommend downloading the Dictamp Polish to English dictionary from the Play store. It is much more comprehensive than any paper dictionary that I've seen and covers this particular use of "przez" quite adequately. It's also free.
I'll second this recommendation. For because see #7
preposition – przyimek
.1 (na drugą stronę) across, through [park, pustynię]; over [przeszkodę, płot, barierę]; over, across [most, rów]; (na wylot) through [ścianę, chmury]
- głęboka blizna przechodząca mu przez czoło a deep scar stretching across his forehead
- chmury ciągnące się od Skandynawii, przez Morze Północne po Wyspy Brytyjskie clouds stretching from Scandinavia across the North Sea as far as the British Isles
- przejść przez jezdnię to cross the street, to go across the street
- przeskoczyć przez strumyk to jump over albo – or across a stream
- sweter przerzucony przez oparcie krzesła a jumper thrown over the back of a chair
- wejść/wyskoczyć przez okno to come in through/jump out of the window
- przeciskać się przez tłum to push one’s way through the crowd
- brnąć przez śnieg to plough through the snow
- usłyszeć jakiś hałas przez ścianę to hear some noise through the wall
- most przez Wisłę a bridge across albo – or over the Vistula
- pociąg do Kolonii przez Poznań i Hanower a train to Cologne via Köln albo – or passing through Poznań and Hanover
- torba z paskiem przez ramię a bag with a shoulder strap
- okno przez całą szerokość ściany a window covering the entire width of the wall
.2 (po drugiej stronie) across
- mieszkali przez podwórko they lived across the courtyard
- nocowaliśmy przez ścianę we slept in adjacent rooms
.3 (o doświadczeniu) through [fazę, okres, życie]
- przejść pomyślnie przez egzamin to pass albo – or get through an exam
- przejść przez piekło przenośne – figurative to go through hell przenośne – figurative
.4 (czas trwania) for; (od początku do końca) through
- przez dwa dni/trzy lata for two days/three years
- przez chwilę for a moment
- przez jakiś czas for some time
- przez cały czas all the time
- przez cały dzień/rok all through the day/year, throughout the day/year
- pracować przez całą noc to work all through the night albo – or the whole night (through)
- skończę tłumaczenie przez niedzielę/maj I’ll finish the translation over Sunday/during May
.5 (w stronie biernej) by (kogoś/coś sb/sth)
- dom zniszczony przez pożar a house destroyed by fire
- zakazany przez prawo forbidden by law
- został ukąszony przez węża he was bitten by a snake
.6 (za pomocą) przez lunetę/szkło powiększające through a telescope/magnifying glass
- przez telefon [rozmawiać] on the phone; [poinformować] over the phone
- transmitowany przez radio/telewizję broadcast albo – or transmitted on the radio/on television
- pić sok przez słomkę to drink juice through albo – or with a straw
- napisać coś przez kalkę to make a carbon copy of sth
- prasować spodnie przez mokrą szmatkę to iron a pair of trousers through a damp cloth
- uczcili pamięć zmarłych przez powstanie they paid tribute to the dead by rising from their seats
- głosowali przez podniesienie ręki they voted by a show of hands
- słowo „chirurg” pisze się przez „ch” the word ‘chirurg’ is spelt with a ‘ch’
.7 (z powodu) through, out of
- przez niedopatrzenie/nieuwagę through albo – or out of negligence/carelessness
- przez złośliwość out of malice
- przez pomyłkę/przypadek by mistake/accident
- przez kogoś because of albo – or through sb
- przez niego złamałem sobie nogę because of albo – or thanks to ironiczne – ironic him I broke my leg
- to wszystko przez ciebie/przeze mnie it’s all your/my fault, it’s all because of you/me
- przez to because of that
- miał krótszą jedną nogę i przez to lekko utykał he had one leg shorter than the other and because of that he had a slight limp
- przez to, że… through the fact that…, because…
- straciliśmy mnóstwo pieniędzy przez to, że mu uwierzyliśmy we lost a lot of money, all because we trusted him
.8 (za pośrednictwem) through
- rozmawiać przez tłumacza to speak through an interpreter
- zarezerwować hotel przez biuro podróży to book a hotel through a travel agent
- poznałem przyszłą żonę przez Roberta I met my wife through Robert
- list wysłano przez gońca the letter was sent by messenger albo – or through a messenger
.9 (wskazujące na interpretację) by
- przez pierwiastki ciężkie rozumiemy pierwiastki cięższe od wodoru by heavy elements we undertstand elements heavier than hydrogen
- co przez to rozumiesz? what do you understand by that?
- co chcesz przez to powiedzieć what do you mean by (saying) that?
.10 matematyka – mathematics by
- podziel/pomnóż sumę przez 5 divide/multiply the sum by 5
.11 (w numerach) by
- Domaniewska 7/9 (siedem łamane przez dziewięć) 7-9 (seven to nine) Domaniewska Street
- 141
'It's through you that I can buy a ticket' suggests rather that 'you' is the agent who can facilitate the buying of a ticket.
- 470
Would 'przez' be used to translate a sentence like "This damage has been caused by a storm"? (I don't know anything about Polish passive constructions yet.)
Yes, it would work.
"Te uszkodzenia/szkody zostały spowodowane przez burzę" ('damage' is usually plural in Polish unless it's literally one damaged thing, and not very seriously).
