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Capital Letters at the start of Polish words.



osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 		Edited by: osiol   Feb 17, 08, 09:58 /  #
Capital letters at the beginning of words:

English:
First letter in a sentence
First letter in names of people and places
First letter in words in a title of a book, song or other work of art. (Often not including words like 'and', 'of' unless they are the first word).

German:
Same as above, plus
First letter of all nouns

Polish:
I'm not so sure.
I've definately been told to capitalise the first letter of certain pronouns (Ty, Twój, etc).
People and places have a capital for the first letter, but adjectival forms of country-names seem not to have this.

Discuss / explain.
plk123Threads: 30
Posts: 6,412
Joined: Aug 29, 07  Pictures: 2 		Edited by: plk123   Feb 17, 08, 13:16 /  #
osiol wrote:
I've definately been told to capitalise the first letter of certain pronouns (Ty, Twój, etc).

yes but only if those people are someone you know and are showing respect. this could also apply to grandma etcc.. Babcia...

god (Bóg) is always capitalized.

a country yes, but not if it's "of" that country.. Poland, polish. Polska, polskie..

the rest is the same as english, for the most part. do you have any specific examples we need to discuss?
osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 		  Feb 17, 08, 13:20 /  #
plk123 wrote:
do you have any specific examples we need to discuss?

It was mainly the personal pronouns I was interested in.

Another thing is in titles where you have small words.
Like in English, the 'and' example I gave. Should the Polish 'i' be capitalised in such places?
MufasaThreads: 24
Posts: 445
Joined: Oct 21, 07  Pictures: 1 		  Feb 17, 08, 14:05 /  #
names of days and months are also not capitalised as far as i know?
krysiaThreads: 26
Posts: 3,604
Joined: Aug 10, 06 		  Feb 17, 08, 14:06 /  #
Mufasa wrote:
names of days and months are also not capitalised as far as i know?

No, not yet.
osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 		  Feb 17, 08, 14:09 /  #
krysia wrote:
not yet

Is there a Trend for more Words to start with a Capital Letter these Days?
krysiaThreads: 26
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Joined: Aug 10, 06 		  Feb 17, 08, 14:12 /  #
Osiol should be capitalized
osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 		  Feb 17, 08, 14:13 /  #
krysia wrote:
capitalized

Are we now talking about punishment rather than letters?
MufasaThreads: 24
Posts: 445
Joined: Oct 21, 07  Pictures: 1 		  Feb 17, 08, 14:16 /  #
..lol.. - hopefully letters Oś
plk123Threads: 30
Posts: 6,412
Joined: Aug 29, 07  Pictures: 2 		  Feb 17, 08, 14:22 /  #
osiol wrote:
Like in English, the 'and' example I gave. Should the Polish 'i' be capitalised in such places?

in a title?.. most likely your choice.. seems to willy nilly in english (US version anyway)

osiol wrote:
It was mainly the personal pronouns I was interested in.
in general the 'titles' are not cap but when addressing someone directly it is a nice gesture to do so.
osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 		  Feb 17, 08, 14:27 /  #
plk123 wrote:
when addressing someone directly it is a nice gesture to do so

Dziękuję, Pan Plk123.
That kind of thing? or

Sp*******j Ty ch**u.
Kind of balances it out a bit, eh?
plk123Threads: 30
Posts: 6,412
Joined: Aug 29, 07  Pictures: 2 		  Feb 17, 08, 14:33 /  #
lol... i'd go with the first only.

and with comma in there it should be panie.. if no comma then panu.
osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 		  Feb 17, 08, 14:41 /  #
plk123 wrote:
i'd go with the first only

But I won't edit out the second one.

Thanks for your help mr. 123... I mean Mr. PLK.
plk123Threads: 30
Posts: 6,412
Joined: Aug 29, 07  Pictures: 2 		Edited by: plk123   Feb 17, 08, 14:42 /  #
you don't have to cap anything for me.. i don't cap much.. ever. LOL

and you're very welcome. :)
KrzysztofThreads: 2
Posts: 1,146
Joined: Jul 26, 07 		Edited by: Krzysztof   Feb 17, 08, 15:45 /  #
book/movies titles - like normal sentences (only first word and porper names capitalized), unless the author decides otherwise. Adjectives (polski, angielski - not capitalized; pronouns (ty, ciebie, was) - small letter unless directly addressing to a person in a letter (still not obligatory). Nationalities (or ethnic groups) - capital letter.
examples:
Wczoraj obejrzałem film Andrzeja Wajdy "Popiół i diament" o walkach Polaków z niemieckim okupantem a później z polskimi komunistami.
Owczarek podhalański jest popularną rasą na Podhalu, hodują go głównie Cyganie (Romowie).

Żyd - Jew as nationality
żyd - religion (like katolik, protestant, prawosławny - not capitalized)
plk123Threads: 30
Posts: 6,412
Joined: Aug 29, 07  Pictures: 2 		Edited by: plk123   Feb 17, 08, 15:53 /  #
Krzysztof wrote:
hodują go głównie Cyganie

lol... i knew something was messed up about grzegorz. :D :D
osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 		  Feb 18, 08, 15:02 /  #
plk123 wrote:
god (Bóg) is always capitalized.

I think you mean God is always capitalised.
plk123Threads: 30
Posts: 6,412
Joined: Aug 29, 07  Pictures: 2 		  Feb 18, 08, 15:24 /  #
No, i mean Bóg is always cap. ;) :)
dtaylorThreads: 15
Posts: 992
Joined: Sep 15, 07 		  Feb 18, 08, 15:26 /  #
I spend much of my day sitting on the English bog.
Also once got stuck in a bog, started sinking aswell!!
F15guyThreads: 1
Posts: 230
Joined: Jan 14, 08 		  Feb 18, 08, 16:34 /  #
Plk123 wrote: a country yes, but not if it's "of" that country.. Poland, polish. Polska, polskie..


In English, Person from Poland should be Polish, not polish. Big difference in meaning. Small p polish is wax used to make shoes shine.

Polish and polish are pronounced differently. What other English word is pronounce differently when capitalized?
osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 		Edited by: osiol   Feb 18, 08, 16:48 /  #
plk123 wrote:
No, i mean Bóg is always cap. ;) :)

You didn't capitalise the English word. Only if there are multiple gods do you leave it with a small 'g'.
Also, you failed to use a capital letter at the start of a sentence.
Oh god, whatever next?
plk123Threads: 30
Posts: 6,412
Joined: Aug 29, 07  Pictures: 2 		  Feb 18, 08, 17:00 /  #
YEAH.. I DON'T CAP CERTAIN THINGS FOR A REASON.. my own personal reasons. :D
KrzysztofThreads: 2
Posts: 1,146
Joined: Jul 26, 07 		  Feb 18, 08, 18:51 /  #
plk123 wrote:
Bóg is always cap.

actually, the rules are similar to English in this case.
Ares to starogrecki bóg wojny - Ares is the ancient Greek god of warfare.
DzhaklinThreads: 3
Posts: 190
Joined: Dec 3, 07 		  Feb 18, 08, 18:59 /  #
are there any things that you capitalize that might catch you off guard?
plk123Threads: 30
Posts: 6,412
Joined: Aug 29, 07  Pictures: 2 		Edited by: plk123   Feb 18, 08, 20:04 /  #
Krzysztof wrote:
Ares to starogrecki bóg wojny - Ares is the ancient Greek god of warfare.

because that in reference to a dieity not the god.


Dzhaklin wrote:
are there any things that you capitalize that might catch you off guard?

yes.. see way above
z_dariusThreads: 22
Posts: 5,091
Joined: Oct 18, 07 		  Feb 18, 08, 20:34 /  #
F15guy wrote:
Polish and polish are pronounced differently. What other English word is pronounce differently when capitalized?

This has nothing to do with capitalization:

Polish those shoes using shoe polish.

These are homographs, words with the same spelling but different meaning and/or pronounciation. Some examples:

tear, console, minute, wind, present, contract, refuse, lead, sewer, number, desert, does, dove, produce.
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