"Idę po chleb."
Translation:I am going to get bread.
57 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I've never heard such usage, but it seems that it's perfectly natural for English natives... well, added now - and I've learned something new.
I've most often heard it as "I'm going for distance" (instead of accuracy), or "She's going for gold" (i.e. trying her best). I can understand it as "I'm going to the store for bread" with "to the store" left out, but I rarely if ever hear it that way. It may be a regional expression.
"I'm going for groceries" is common but I usually hear "to the store" if only a specific article is sought, such as bread
"I am going to get" sounds like future tense. Does the Polish sentence also function as future. (Because we usually use "be going to + verb" to talk about the future)
Bear in mind that "I am going to get bread." is not a literal translation of "Idę po chleb." which is just simply "I am going for bread".
So, the Polish doesn't have a second verb to be cast into the future.
As a native English speaker, that would sound a little unnatural. It needs a destination or something after 'going' that you're going to, for example 'I am going out for bread'.
35
It's not specified in the polish sentence that I'm going out though. I could be going to get bread from the same room.
In which context would this sentence be used?
1) when you go to a shop to buy bread
OR
2) when you're home and you go to the kitchen to get the bread that is in the cupboard
Both and many more. One could ask one's roommate: „Idę po chleb, chcesz coś z kuchni?” - I'm going to the kitchen to get the bread. Do you want me to get you sth from there?
or
„Idę po chleb, chcesz coś ze sklepu?” - I'm going to a shop to get (a loaf of) bread. Do you want me to buy you sth from there?
Or when you are asked what are you doing now/where are you going. „Idę po chleb”
Does that mean that "iść po" is a fixed phrase in Polish that is equivalent to "to be going to get sth"?
More or less yes. I am moving somewhere and I'll get X from there. But you can also say: Jadę po X - I am driving somewhere... Lecę po X - I am flying ...., (flying also functions in colloquial speech as moving fast)
Thank you. That is interesting. Because of this, Polish fascinates me. The Polish grammar also fascinates me due to its complexity and complicated nature.
This is my first post - so cut me some slack please!
According to my dictionary "po" has many English equivalent meanings. I read what is said by Ben Conway6 but, as another native English speaker, "I am going for bread" is (for me) a very natural phrase.
In my view it can mean - for the purpose of - I am going for (bread), (exercise), (pleasure) or, in other settings - after the manner of - as in Mowię po polsku.
"idę na" (or "idę do", probably more often) is used when you are simply going to some place. 'na' is usually used with open spaces and 'do' with closed ones, although there may be examples.
"po" is when you go to get something/someone. Imagine "Idę do sklepu po chleb" - I'm going to the shop to buy bread.
Can you use "na+acc." instead of "po+acc."? Bc in my stay in Lodz I think I listened some sentences like "Idę do sklepu na sałatkę"
Unless it's something regional, I would say that this only works if you can eat the salad in the shop. And in some big shops you have such 'buffet', so it is technically possible, but rare.
Why was 'I am going to get bread' not correct. 'the is not needed in English conversation
- 1115
Yes! See Usage Notes for "Po" here. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/po#Polish . In this case "po" = "for".
- 1115
Also, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chleb (and press "show declension") will show that it can only be Nom. or Acc.
I'm don't really understand what the difference between e and ę is, is it when something ends with e it becomes ę?
So here are two things:
1) pronounciation- TTS speaks final ę like "e". Some Poles do too.
2) Grammar: with verbs (as I assume your question is about verbs)
-ę is in the first person singular (ja idę= I go, ja gotuję=I cook)
-e is the third person singular (on idzie=he goes, on gotuje=he cooks)
(just so it is clear, not all first person verbs end with -ę , not all third person verbs end with -e)
I our everyday conversations, we would not use the "the" in the sentence. I'm goingto get bread, I'm going for bread, I'm going after bread. Fluid suckers, aren't we?
"I am going to get the bread" seems to me to be quite reasonable. Not all Duo's sentences have to be complete. "I am going to get the bread, which I forgot to buy this morning"; "I am going to get the bread, which you asked me to buy"; etc....
What does 'po' actually mean then? Mowię Po polsku is 'I am speaking in polish', so I thought 'po' meant 'in'. But 'I am going in bread' clearly makes no sense.
'po' has many meanings, just as most prepositions do in most languages.
'po polsku' is a fixed construction that means something like "Polish-style", "the Polish way". That's how we talk about speaking some language, but the form 'polsku' nowadays only exists in this construction, you won't find it in the declension of the adjective "polski".
"po" can mean something like "around" in sentences like "I'm just walking around the park".
It can simply mean "after", like "Po szkole poszedłem do kina" = After school I went to the cinema.
And the meaning that you see here is equivalent to "to get", "in order to get". Bread (buying bread) is the reason you went to the store. You went there to buy bread.
Yes, they're very different.
"Dostaję chleb" = I receive bread (from someone).
"Idę po chleb" = I am going/walking (somewhere) to get bread.
Why does 'I am getting the bread." Not work? I would therefore assume "I am fetching the bread." Is not accepted either.
Does not saying "I am going to get the bread." Change its tense? we are still using only the imperfect (present) tense correct? So does not English use "I will [present verb]" and "I am going [infinitive verb] to express the future?
So is it not more correct in translation to be saying "I am getting/fetching the bread." Since it is an imperfect action as opposed to the future implication of "I am going to get the bread.", an action as of yet unperformed?
An interesting point.
["I am going" + infinitive] does indeed have one meaning which is a future tense.
However, there is a second more literal usage of "I am going" which literally means, I am physically taking my own self to a store, where I will do xyz. "Idę" here has that second, literal, sense....
Acquiring, procuring and so on, isn't English an easy language to learn? :-)
It is. It is certainly the easiest language I have come across. (See you can just use "get" for all of those up above. Score!)
Maybe it is difficult to master, though.
"Po" has multiple meanings, which are usually distinguishable by the case of the noun following. https://www.clozemaster.com/blog/polish-prepositions/ shows three of them (table about three-quarters of the way down), and there is a fourth meaning which means "in the style of"/"using such-and-such a language"; that form takes an archaic Dative form (as in "mowię po polsku"->"I speak Polish")
"I am going for bread" = "I am going (out) for bread" = "I am going (out to the store) for bread "
As far as I know, no preposition can take the Nominative.
See Usage Notes for "Po" here. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/po#Polish . In this case "po" = "for", hence Accusative.
Also, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chleb (and press "show declension") will show that it can only be Nom. or Acc.