Donkey's Diary

No, it wouldn't.
And it wasn't really my point. I didn't want to suggest you to change your language habits, let's forget what I wrote :)



Actually, a better way to say it would be "dopiłem kawę" (when you made the coffee, drank some of it, left the rest for a while, and then finished drinking it.)

but he can also say it the first way.... at this stage of learning, i think, it's OK as long as people will get what he means...the perfection will come later :)

Wow, this slipped down quickly

... bo nic nie robiłem.

How should I say "Well, not very much"?

Cóż, niewiele...
('cóż' being rather official ;))

I don't want to sound official. Somewhere between that and street slang would do for me.

cóż isn't an official word, don't listen to her

(This last) tydzień (I was working) do ogródzie. Sadziłem nowy trawnika z nasienie. Ale koty (nie moj(?) koty - nie mam kota) lubi osra (?) / uzywa moj (future) trawnik jak toaleta.

Now for what I would prefer to actually say:

Over the last week, I've been sowing seed for a new lawn. Unfortunately, the local cat population think I've just been making them a nice big litter tray for them to half-bury their gówno in.

youtube.com/watch?v=ahUesxF6Yrw, one for ur diary

This is a negative depiction of where I currently live.

I like the music

Yeah, well this is the Style Council playing "Walls Come Tumbling Down" in Warsaw...

youtube.com/watch?v=I29aPBkEc0Y

But it still doesn't have much to do with my diary or learning Polish.

I prefer "Shout It To The Top" anyway.
Who said Paul Weller's got a silly haircut? Hmmm. Well...

I.
Przez ostatni tydzień pracowałem w ogrodzie.
Sadziłem nowy trawnik z nasion.
Ale koty (nie moje - ja nie mam kota) lubią tam srać / używają mojego przyszłego trawnika jako toalety / wychodka. [toaleta is exagerated in this case, I suggest wychodek = loo]

I've been sowing seed for a new lawn. - Sadziłem nasiona na nowy trawnik (or simply Sadziłem nową trawę).
Unfortunately, the local cat population think I've just been making them a nice big litter tray for them to half-bury their gówno in. - Niestety okoliczne [or: miejscowe] koty myślą, że przygotowałem dla nich piaskownicę*, w której mogą zakopywać do połowy swoje odchody. [gówno isn't really recommended that much]

piaskownica * = sandbox
* nasienie = sperm

Nasiona can be seeds 2, right?

nasienie - sperm
nasienie / nasiono [both forms are correct as Nominative case in singular] - plant seed (plural: nasiona = seeds)

It's really better (and more common) to use seeds in the plural form (Mianownik nasiona, Dopełniacz nasion, Celownik nasionom etc.) or at least the newer form (nasiono in Nominative case, singular) to avoid possible misunderstandings or funny connotations among listeners.

P.S. Devil's seed = diabelskie nasienie.

I hope no-one got the wrong end of the stick regarding my gardening activities!


The darker the chocolate, the better. This sounds a bit like my alternative name for white chocolate.


I think I'm even beginning to pick up the names of the tenses in Polish now.

Today I did some stuff, but you'll all just have to wait.

Widziałem [radio-controlled] (-owy?) poduszkowiec (poduszkowca?) na internete (internete czy interneta?). Tylko trzydieście funty. Zajebisty!

Widziałem [zdalnie sterowany] poduszkowiec (Ślizgacz) na internecie. Tylko trzydzieści funtów. Zajebisty!

w internecie :)

Four things I notice, in order of how much they stand out:

1. The mistakes I make where I ought to have known better - trzydzieści funtów.
2. The bits where I hopefully pick up on something and learn something new - internecie
3. The bits where Polish people disagree about what it should be - na vs. w
4. The bits that I actually got right - widziałem.

Thanks for your help everyone. I think it's about time for me to slightly change my tack. There's so much I don't know that would probably come under the basics in any Polish language course. But I will return to this thread... and that's a threat!

I’ve overlooked one.
Actually K is right; damn that English, rubbing off on me like that.

I thought I was going to lay this thread to rest for a while, but I seem to be finding it hard to resist.

****ek [parked] swój samochodem (wild guess on the ending there) i poszedł(?) do krzaki [for] siusiu. Gdy [he was busy, I stole] jego samochód (no wild guess on the ending). Słyszem "Don't you dare!" ale za póżno. [I parked it] z czterdziesci metrów [away]. Kiedy (gdy?) ****ek wraca (wrong ending, I know) z krzaki (funny things happen after the letter k, so I daren't guess), wiedział samochód ale tylko [he walked away looking moody].

Questions:
Is a small electric golf buggy best described as samochód, or does that make it look as though I stole his BMW 5-series (whatver that means - I know nic about cars)?
How do you park a car?
How do you steal a car?
What kind of grammar does a car require if you drive, park or steal one?
Why is half of this wrong even though I've been trying to learn for so long?
Should I stick to boring days of only drinking half-cups of coffee, then posting that sort of diary entry w internecie?
None of the above?

****ek zaparkował [swój - not necessary, can be skipped] samochód i poszedł w krzaki siusiu. Gdy był zajęty, ukradłem mu samochód. Usłyszem "Don't you dare!" [Ani mi się waż!] ale było za późno. Zaparkowałem go z czterdzieści metrów dalej. Kiedy [gdy - both can be used] ****ek wrócił z krzaków, zobaczył/widział [wiedział = he knew] samochód, ale tylko odszedł naburmuszony [naburmuszony isn't the best word for "moody", but I can't find another at the moment].


I'm not sure, I'd rather say meleks (ukradłem jego meleksa), but I don't knwo if it's official in modern Polish [Melex was the name of the first company in Poland, about 20 years ago, manufacturing those electric cars you can see on golf courses and then the name, with polonized spelling "ks" instead of "x" became the name for those cars, but maybe now it's changed]

How do you park a car? - a valet comes and does it for you. Is this the kind of answer you were looking for? :)
How do you steal a car? - professional non-disclosure clause, I can't discuss it here.
What kind of grammar does a car require if you drive, park or steal one?
jechać samochodem (Instrumental case - Narzędnik) - can mean both driver or passenger
kierować samochodem (Instrumental case - Narzędnik) or prowadzić samochód (Accusative case - Biernik) - those 2 verbs mean the driver only (so a passenger can jechać, but not kierować/prowadzić, unless s/he's a backseat driver)

zaparkować samochód (Accusative case - Biernik)

ukraść samochód (Accusative case - Biernik)
(in your example, however I wouldn't use the word "ukraść" it's too strong for the joking context. Maybe something colloquial like old-fashion "zwinąć", "zwędzić", "buchnąć" or more recent "podprowadzić", for example "podprowadziłem mu meleksa" instead of "ukradłem mu samochód", "mu" is a shortened Dative form [full form "jemu" = him] and we don't use possessive pronouns, like "jego", "swój", when it's not necessary, so in Polish "I stole his car" translates literally to "I stole him [the] car")

Ośle, your writing is adorable and your attempts to learn Polish are impressive! Keep on writing and don't get put off by those who, rightly, correct your mistakes. You don't need to be perfect to be understood :)

What a great forum btw!
Pozdrawiam wszystkich :)

Dziekuje bardzo.

I'll think of something new to write just as soon as I've learnt some more.

I have had a few things I would like to have written in here, but just haven't bothered trying to work out. Like the story about cycling home on a scorching hot day, accosting a fishmonger's van and purchasing a rather splendid selection of fish for dinner surrounded by cornfields...

Bartek i ja sa pijasmy, dzeki "The Doctor's Tonic" (that's a pub, by the way).