"Umiem liczyć i rysować!"
Translation:I can count and draw!
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1283
It's possible, and should no doubt be allowed, but in fact "can" is used much more often here. From my "bible", Practical English Usage, by Michael Swan, OUP:
"Can is preferred in the sense of "know how to":
Can you knit? (More natural than Are you able to knit?)"
I said 'I know how to count and to draw'. Of course one can cut out the second 'to' but it is still correct spoken English, especially when one speaks slowly, making perhaps a point of emphasis.
Why isn't "I am able to count and draw" correct? How does "Mogę liczyć i rysować" translate differently? Thank you!
- 1061
"I am able to" is a good translation for "mogę". But while "mogę rysować" makes sense (I can draw because I have a pen and paper), "mogę liczyć" doesn't. I don't need anything to count but some knowledge, and that would be "umiem".
Well, that may be used in a 'ok, so how do we devide the tasks?' situation, I volunteer to do the counting and the drawing.
Anyway, "I am able to count and draw" is accepted, so is "Mogę liczyć i rysować".
- 1061
Ah, that's another meaning of 'mogę', I think it hasn't been mentioned so far.
I'm willing and able...
When I went to Polish school about 79 yeras ago, my rachowaly., nie liczyly.
Well... the '79 years' ago part probably explains it ;)
P.S "rachowaliśmy, nie liczyliśmy". What you wrote looks like Russian grammar, not Polish, I'm afraid...
That looks like a provincial Southern Kresy dialect to me. Ми рахували is exactly how you'd say it in Ukrainian.