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The Plural of Zloty?


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osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 ♂ 		 Jun 22, 08, 15:00    #31
Will Ikeda:
zloty is plural.
just like pierogy

So what about z這te and z這tych like it says on the coins?

What's that about pierogi?


RubasznyRumcajsThreads: 9
Posts: 281
Joined: Mar 29, 08 ♂ 		 Jun 22, 08, 15:03    #32
in polish :
1 (jeden) z這ty
2 (dwa) z這te
.......
5 (pi耩) z這tych
.....
128 (sto-dwadzie軼ia-osiem) z這tych


Guest  Oct 7, 08, 06:09    #33
Just use "zeta" i.e. "I have ten zeta (mam 10 zeta)" very informal...regards


HAL9009Threads: 2
Posts: 329
Joined: Mar 13, 07 ♂ 		 Oct 7, 08, 17:44    #34
z這tych is the plural when referring to the currency unit.


EwcinkaThreads: 1
Posts: 30
Joined: Sep 13, 08 ♀ 		 Oct 7, 08, 20:00    #35
Will Ikeda:

zloty is plural.
just like pierogy




z這ty is not plural (the plural forms are z這te and z這tych depending on the figure) z這ty is an adjective (it means golden in pl)

pierogi is plural for pier鏬 but this is a noun


z_dariusThreads: 22
Posts: 5,091
Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂ 		 Oct 7, 08, 23:21    #36
Ewcinka:

pierogi is plural for pier鏬 but this is a noun


as a monetary unit "z這ty" functions as a noun.

Osiol's got it right.

as for z這t闚ka it refers to individual coins rather than to expressing an amount of money.


EwcinkaThreads: 1
Posts: 30
Joined: Sep 13, 08 ♀ 		 Oct 8, 08, 19:45    #37
z_darius:

as a monetary unit "z這ty" functions as a noun.


You're right... I think it is called "rzeczownik odprzymiotnikowy" (?adjectival noun?)
I only wanted to indicate that z這ty is not a regular noun (the "y" doesn't mean that z這ty is plural)


osiolThreads: 59
Posts: 4,714
Joined: Jul 25, 07 ♂ 		 Oct 8, 08, 21:05    #38
Ewcinka:

the "y" doesn't mean that z這ty is plural

Indeed, I have never heard of anyone talking about jeden z這t. But should I have, by some curious twist of grammar?


lukasz2507Threads: 1
Posts: 10
Joined: Nov 27, 07 ♂ 		 Nov 14, 08, 21:06    #39
LondonChick:

Cheers guys.... I'm going to go with zloty (the main target readership is native English).


Good call, but if writing an article in English, best to keep with PLN. If you really want to use "zloty" than keep it at "zloty"


LondonChickThreads: 43
Posts: 1,261
Joined: Nov 19, 07 ♀ 		 Nov 15, 08, 05:54    #40
lukasz2507:

Good call, but if writing an article in English, best to keep with PLN. If you really want to use "zloty" than keep it at "zloty"



Aaah, but the context was referring to "Zloties" in general, rather than a specific sum, if that makes sense.


delphiandomineThreads: 40
Posts: 9,572
Joined: Nov 25, 08 ♂ 		 Dec 3, 08, 17:19    #41
I asked a bunch of fluent English speaking Poles their opinion on this, and...

Two said 'zloties' - however, one says zloty in ordinary speech
One said 'zloties, but now I say it, it sounds wrong' - and agreed that zloty sounds much better
One definitively said 'Zloty, there's no plural in English'

So there's no hard and fast rule - I use one zloty, many zloty personally...but.


mafketisThreads: 15
Posts: 1,830
Joined: Mar 31, 08 ♂ 		 Dec 3, 08, 17:41    #42
delphiandomine:

I asked a bunch of fluent English speaking Poles their opinion on this,


I'm not Polish, but I've lived here a long time, speak Polish pretty well and I've always said and written zloties and have every intention of not changing.

Informally (from other English speakers living in Poland over the years) I've also heard zlots, zees and .... zits.


plk123Threads: 30
Posts: 6,410
Joined: Aug 29, 07 ♂ 		 Dec 3, 08, 22:12    #43
LondonChick:

The Plural of Zloty?

Z這tys lol


LondonChickThreads: 43
Posts: 1,261
Joined: Nov 19, 07 ♀ 		 Dec 4, 08, 02:14    #44
plk123:

lol



Eh? Why lol? Looking at all the answers, it's not so obvious.

It's funny to see this thread still running, as the article that I was writing got published ages ago, and I really can't remember what I wrote LOL!


pdogsThreads: -
Posts: 3
Joined: Mar 20, 10 ♂ 		 Mar 23, 10, 09:23    #45
As I understand it there are some Polish nouns that are declined as if they were adjectives and z這ty (a masculine noun for the English word zloty) is one of these. The same Polish word z這ty (but as an adjective meaning gold/golden) is declined just the same but needs to agree with whatever noun it is describing.

"Quantities" in Polish require the genitive form. Thus kilka (a few), ile (how many) and so all would expect the genitive plural, namely z這tych, to be used. The Polish "oddity" with numerical quantities is that 5 through 0 treat what they are describing as quantities and thus also require the genitive but 1 requires the nominative singular (jeden z這ty) and 2 through 4 require the nominative plural (dwa/trzy/cztery z這te).

When writing in English a good general rule is to either stay with the English way of writing the plurals but if using a foreign plural to always use it correctly as it would be in the foreign language. Thus in English text both 5 zloties and 5 z這tych would be correct and inoffensive.

Quite a good example of where things can go wrong is with the word virus. The English plural of virus is quite simply viruses. Virus is of Latin origin and (unusually maybe for what I think is from the Latin fourth declension) has no plural form. There are those that think they know better and write viri (which translated from Latin means men) or worse still virii (which is untranslatable) for some sort of effect or to make it look how clever they are. No-one would say busi or busii when referring to a number of buses coming down the road!


delphiandomineThreads: 40
Posts: 9,572
Joined: Nov 25, 08 ♂ 		 Mar 23, 10, 12:43    #46
pdogs:
Thus in English text both 5 zloties and 5 z這tych would be correct and inoffensive.

I'm not convinced that 5 zloties is correct - it sounds like baby talk and doesn't sound natural at all in English. The plural of Euro is Euro - and should be likewise with Zloty.


koskiewiczThreads: -
Posts: 1
Joined: Mar 23, 10 ♂ 		 Mar 23, 10, 16:20    #47
I spotted a shop sign in Hammtramck, Michigan, It read "SKOP, Zlota i Srebra" which I think roughly translates to "money for silver."


ShortHairThugThreads: -
Posts: 1,295
Joined: May 1, 09 ♂ 		Edited by: ShortHairThug  Mar 23, 10, 16:25    #48
koskiewicz:
I spotted a shop sign in Hammtramck, Michigan, It read "SKOP, Zlota i Srebra" which I think roughly translates to "money for silver."

It translates to; we buy gold and silver.
In this case it’s not Polish currency Z這ty you deal with but gold as a precious metal.
BTW it's Skup not Sk鏕, spelling mistake as well.


SzwedwPolsceThreads: 12
Posts: 1,915
Joined: Feb 21, 09 ♂ 		 Mar 23, 10, 21:29    #49
koskiewicz:
Zlota i Srebra

It means Gold and Silver.


pdogsThreads: -
Posts: 3
Joined: Mar 20, 10 ♂ 		 Mar 24, 10, 08:47    #50
I'm not convinced that 5 zloties is correct - it sounds like baby talk and doesn't sound natural at all in English. The plural of Euro is Euro - and should be likewise with Zloty.

I sort of agree or at least I don't know what is absolutely correct because when or whether to use the plural of a word when referring to "collective nouns" in the English language is a matter of endless debate. Ten deer/duck/pound/penny/dollar/zloty/euro/cent versus ten deers/ducks/pounds/pennies/dollars/zloties/euros/cents can all be used correctly (though there are those that will disagree with this) when used in different contexts in different countries.

It is true that euro is the correct plural as dictated by the EU for use in legislative documents but every country also uses terms colloquially and these need not remain static or be the same. In Ireland, since joining the euro-zone, I can pretty much affirm that it would sound odd to hear someone say I want to change my euro into zloty and that I want to change my euros into zloties would be "much easier on my ear" even if others disagree with the grammatical or legislative correctness.

It is very easy to get bogged down with the semantics of grammar and though I find such debates interesting and fun I would be the last to say there is only one way of saying or writing things. In my opinion one of the beauties of the English language is that it has always continued to evolve and that this is likely to continue.


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