"On kocha wino."
Translation:He loves wine.
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Czesc (I know they should have diacritical marks). I was at the Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival to see the excellent Polish film Fuga. The organizer of the festival was born in Lodz. (I know--accent mark). I wanted to tell her that i loved the film, and she said "kochac" is only used for loving people, never objects or activities. This woman is a professor of Polish Language Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. What she told me does not jive with what I am learning on Duolingo. Could you comment on this, Jellei?
This is like English speakers arguing whether "than he" or "than him" is the correct form. Language is changing constantly and "kochać" is just one of those words, which are currently undergoing a shift in meaning. Traditionally, "kochać" was used exclusively to refer to people (or pets), but in recent years its meaning has broadened (maybe under the influence of English or German?). Nowadays, many people use it to refer to inanimate objects, whereas others claim that this is a mistake.
The PWN dictionary states:
kochać «darzyć kogoś uczuciem miłości albo bardzo lubić kogoś lub coś»
As you can see kochać coś is acceptable. Maybe the professor was a bit of a prescriptivist, denying the fact that languages evolve. Anyway, I'm sure she had her reasons and is entitled to her opinion.
I must add that kochać coś is still a quite colloquial phrase, so if you want to sound formal, I would advise you to avoid it.
Thanks, Alik, for such a thorough and thoughtful answer. I guess I am a bit of a purist/prescriptivist as well. English--at least American English--has gotten so sloppy (evidence of lazy thinking and poor education), and it does bug me a bit that that attitude is influencing other languages so much. I'll just have to consider my audience when using kochać.
I usually don't see a problem with using "kochać" with inanimate objects, but what probably every native will agree upon is that the best choice then is to use "uwielbiać".
"You've got a friend in me You've got a friend in me If you've got troubles, I've got 'em too There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you We stick together and can see it through Cause you've got a friend in me You've got a friend in me"
Should the expression for love cheese?? Love something not animate be "uwielbiam ser"?
Some natives will have no problem with "kochać ser". Some natives will say it's wrong. They all will probably agree that "uwielbiać ser" would be better.
What is with the extra syllable after "on"? I thought it was "ona" until I heard it in turtle mode.
Well, the audio kinda stops after 'on', which I guess could be mistaken for an extra syllable, but frankly, I think it rather sounds fine... at least for TTS.