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- Topic: Polish >
- "Czy one mówią po angielsku?"
9 Comments
AT LAST!!
A subject in Polish that seems easy. I'm talking about conjugation of verbs in the present tense.
Only 4 types of verbs, all the endings are pretty similar, not much irregularity. This is gonna be a cinch!
I'm so glad to find something easy at last (in comparison with other languages, e.g. the amount of irregulars present tense in Spanish for example, and even the number of regular verb classes). Plus there's far fewer tenses to learn. Woohoo....
Something easier had to be coming after all that struggle with noun declension and adjective declension.....
is czy used like "est-ce que" in french? You can put it on front of the phrase and generally keep the word order, while expressing a question?
Well... from your description, it sounds so, but I don't know French.
"czy" makes it clear that it's a yes/no question, but it's not needed. Recommended, though, especially for a learner. And it doesn't change the word order, questions generally have the same word order as declarative sentences.
1289
So this does not translate to " Can they speak English? To say, "Do they speak English could mean they are capable of speaking English but choose not to. Is there a difference in Polish?
- 218
They (can) speak Polish (the ability to speak when needed) - Mówią po polsku They can speak Polish (ability) - Potrafią mówić po polsku/ Władają polskim
They speak in Polish (They actually carry the conversation in Polish) -
Rozmawiają po polsku/(Zwykle) Porozumiewają się w języku polskim
What case is "angielsku"? Looking on wiktionary, I cannot see it listed under the normal tenses. It is, however, shown under a row called "old dative". Can someone please clear this up for me?
It actually is Old Dative. Nowadays you can only find it in this one construction. It works like "English-style", "the English way", etc.
