"We are going to school."
Translation:My idziemy do szkoły.
13 Comments
No. "We are going to school" describes an action that is happening now, or is about to happen. "Iść/Idziemy" is the word that describes walking(or going) now or in the close future, in the specific direction.
Chodzić/chodzimy, is the verb that describes the action (to walk/to go) that happens frequently, or the action happening right now, but direction less.
So if the sentence would have been a reply to a question such as "Do you already work or are you still going to school?" Then then answer would be correct using "chodzimy"? Because it indicates something that one usually does instead of happening in the close future?
Yes. The school context is problematic, as it messes with our destinction - exactly because 'we are going to school' may be understood the same way as 'we attend school'.
But as a native Polish speaker are you good enough in English, to say it means the same?
I am also a native Polish speaker, but all what I have bean taught about English makes me think it is not correct, as the sentences do not mean the same.
Yes, I’ve got a B.A. in American Studies and i truly believe it is correct.
I accept your expertise then.
As we both know:
My idziemy do szkoły
and
My chodzimy do szkoły
do not mean the same.
Do they usually both mean we are going to school? Or just in some context?
I'm a native English speaker (and English teacher) who is just a beginner at Polish, but I speak fluent Russian, so I know a bit about about the unidirectional versus multidirectional verb thing. If Polish functions like Russian in this regard, I would not translate a multidirectional verb to English using the present continuous. I suspect that My idziemy do szkoły is best translated as "We are going to school" (right now), and My chodzimy do szkoły is "We go to school" (every day or regularly)
The word 'szkolę' is not a noun, it is a verb, 1-st person singular of the verb "szkolić".
You need to use the noun 'szkoła' here, and the preposition 'do' requires use of in Genitive. The declension is:
- Nominative (mianownik) : szkoł
a- szkoły - Genitive (dopełniacz) : szkoł
y- szkół - Dative (celownik) : szkol
e- szkołom - Accusative (biernik) : szkoł
ę- szkoły - Instrumental (narzędnik) : szkoł
ą- szkołami - Locative (miejscownik) : szkol
e- szkołach - Vocative (wołacz) : szkoł
o- szkoły
Pay attention to the letters ą≠a, ę≠e, ł≠ l and ó≠o - they are not the same. It is not a matter of accents - they are different letters. Please pay also attention that in Dative and Locative singular the stem of the word changes from 'szkoł-' to 'szkol-' and in Genitive plural it changes from 'szkoł-' to 'szkół-' (and then the inflected ending is ø=none).
The verb "szkolić" means "to teach by a person who is not a teacher or by an institution that is not a school" - this is the case when a security officer gives the employees a training on safety procedures. Or when Tax Office invites accountants to give them explanations about the new regulations. The conjugation (in present tense) is:
- ja szkol
ę - ty szkol
isz - on/ona/ono szkol
i - my szkol
imy - wy szkol
icie - oni/one szkol
ą
