Colloquial Polish

POLAND . The Unofficial Guide

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Edited by: Rain33 Jul 21, 11, 22:51 #1

I am reading "Let's Learn Polish" by Zofia Bastgen. The book consists of several dialogues, but the dialogues seem very stuffy and outdated, even though it was printed in Warsaw in 1978, not very long ago (at least not to me!) Here are some examples on pages 25 and 33:

A: Przepraszam. Czy pan tu mieszka?

B: Nie. Dlaczego pan pyta?

A. Pytam, bo szukam ulicy Ogrodowej.

I haven't run across the word "bo" in a long time. But, then again, I'm visualizing how ridiculous a native English speaker would sound if the speaker walked up to you on the street, tapped you on the shoulder and said: "For I am looking for my car." It just looks easier to say "szukam ulicy Ogrodowej" than tacking on that extra preposition. I don't know if "bo" is used in colloquial, everyday speech.

Here is another example:

Janek: Czy masz trochę czasu?

Tadek: Kiedy?

Janek: Teraz, zaraz.

Tadek: Mam godzinę czasu, potem załatwiam jedną sprawę na Starym Mieście.

Janek: No, to siadaj i opowiadaj, co słychać u ciebie.

Tadek: Nie mam pojęcia, o co ci chodzi.

I usually just see Co słychać instead of co słychać u ciebie.

legendThreads: 9 Posts: 819 Joined: Apr 23, 11 ♂	Jul 21, 11, 22:59 #2
I think both versions are acceptable.

SzwedwPolsceThreads: 13 Posts: 1,915 Joined: Feb 21, 09 ♂	Edited by: SzwedwPolsce Jul 21, 11, 23:04 #3
Rain33 Pytam, bo szukam ulicy Ogrodowej. It sounds normal. bo=because I'm asking, because* I'm looking for ogrodowa str.* Rain33 I don't know if "bo" is used in colloquial, everyday speech. It's often used in everyday speech. Rain33 I usually just see Co słychać instead of co słychać u ciebie. Both versions sound natural.

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Jul 21, 11, 23:09 #4

Rain33

I don't know if "bo" is used in colloquial, everyday speech.

yes it is, very much so. A stiff and unnatural equivalent would be "ponieważ".

Rain33

A: Przepraszam. Czy pan tu mieszka? B: Nie. Dlaczego pan pyta?A. Pytam, bo szukam ulicy Ogrodowej.

It sounds all right. In order to make it more colloquial I'd just cross out pytam in the last sentence - just: Bo szukam ulicy Ogrodowej.

The second dialogue is fine too. Two things that sound slightly off are:

Rain33

Janek: Czy masz trochę czasu?

Czy is rarely used in everyday speech as the beginning of a question, it's usually omitted. Masz trochę czasu? is more natural.

Rain33

co słychać u ciebie.

co u ciebie słychać - it's better in that order, but anyway it's fine and no more stiff than co słychać.

pawianThreads: 90 Posts: 5,395 Joined: May 30, 08 ♂	Jul 21, 11, 23:29 #5
SzwedwPolsce bo=because Ponieważ=because Bo = as

rybnikThreads: 29 Posts: 1,232 Joined: Jan 16, 11 ♂	Jul 21, 11, 23:49 #6
Rain33 the dialogues seem very stuffy and outdated I think the examples you gave are pretty much spot on. I'm going to look this book up.

Rain33Threads: 15 Posts: 24 Joined: Jul 5, 11 ♀	Jul 22, 11, 00:49 #7
rybnik I think the examples you gave are pretty much spot on. I'm going to look this book up. I bought the book at a used bookshop in Chicago three years ago--with the analog cassette tapes. I don't know if libraries still carry the book, but it's worth a try.

Kamil_plThreads: - Posts: 69 Joined: Dec 24, 08 ♂	Jul 29, 11, 16:23 #8
Ponieważ=because Bo = as bo = because poniweaż - word used mostly in formal speech. I for example never use "ponieważ" when I speak.

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