27 Comments
Is there a formal you in Polish? I mean do they call each other in plural when they want to be polite (like in some other languages)?
There are polite forms with „pan”, „pani”, „państwo” in third person. There is an entire lesson dedicated to it. Unlike some other (or most) Slavic languages, we don't use plural as formal address.
"Wy" is a plural you. Period. The reason why you don't translate it as "you all" is because "you all" is not typically used in English.
Is there any reason "you are wearing small caps" isn't accepted? I know that English uses the present tense far leas than most languages, preferring the present progressive instead but for all I know it's possible Polish also dislikes the present tense more than most languages
I assume it's similar to the English local dialect of Liverpool and the word 'yous'... If anyone if familiar.
AGAIN: You're wearing ISN'T the "same as You wear???? (it's all in the present)
I can see how the course is directing learners in a certain direction however, I'm concerned it's not teaching me to think, just to answer in a manner to get the question correct.
Well, that depends on how you approach it.
Serious learners likely have other resources on the side to deeply study the grammar every time they come across something they don't understand.
Then there are people like me who just quickly breeze through the lessons asap "quantity over quality" style to get the grammar into my linguistic muscle memory. I don't want to think about how a sentence is structured when I speak, I'd rather get it right through sheer habit.
(Especially since I'm only learning for fun and to eavesdrop on my polish co-workers)
How you learn a language best is different from person to person, maybe try experimenting with some other resources on the side if duo doesn't feel quite right?
"a" isn't ok, because this sentence is in plural.
"a small hat" would be either "mały kapelusz" (a hat with a brim) or "mała czapka" (a baseball cap/hat, a beanie). "małą czapkę" in Accusative (as in this sentence).
Well, "hat" is wider, it includes a hat with a brim (and this is rather what a Polish person will think about if they hear the English word "hat").
Anyway, "hats" work.
My response to this was: you are wearing small caps. Why is this incorrect?
Do the 'i's change the pronunciation of "nosicie" as if it were "nośićie"? Or "nosziczie"? Or something else?
It's pretty much as if it was „nośićie”.
The letters ś and ć are only written when that sounds occurs before consonants or at the end of a word. Before most vowels those are represented by „si” and „ci”, and before „i” it's just „s” or „c”.
There are only a few words in Polish where the first letter of the „si” or „ci” combination doesn't sound like „śi” or „ći”. Right now I can recall „sinus”, „cito”, and sometimes „cis” (but that one depends on the meaning).
weird. It did not accept my answer: "You are wearing small caps", which ok...but it showed me that correct asnwer is You ALL wear small caps. Which to me is very misleading - there is no "wszyscy" in the Polish sentence.
As for "You are wearing small caps", see here: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/27628688
As for "You all", it's an accepted option for some of the American users, which use "you all" (y'all) as the plural 'you'. If it helps them make the distinction, then we can accept it. And the algorithm clearly considered it to be the closest to your answer.
In this context I assume it's a baseball cap, a tight hat with a visor.
