Difference between "cię" and "się"

POLAND . The Unofficial Guide

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Edited by: Moderator Jul 6, 11, 05:53 #1

I'm sorry about the subject line; I don't know how to change it from cie to cię or sie to się, even though I tried. My question is this, what is the difference between cię in a sentence and się in a sentence? For example, I love you is kocham cię, but to say that you are bore yourself, you say nudzę się. When do you use się instead of cię, or cię instead of się. What does cię and się mean? I'm so confused!!

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Jul 6, 11, 06:42 #2

się is used for reflexive verbs as in yourself
There isn't a full semantic overlap of those between Polish and English. For instance English he is bathing is not reflexive, in Polish it is, hence it will be kąpie się, literally "he is bathing himself".

The above is the so called "properly reflexive verb" and they are usually transitive.
Reciprocal reflexive example is całują sie i.e they are kissing (each other)
Autoaccusative reflexive, used for mostl for animate objects obraził się i.e. he (feels/is) offended, but word by word translation would be he offended himself.
Anticausative, usualy refers to inanimate objects, when it's unclear what/who is the cause of action, for instance zepsuło sie i.e. it got broken/it broke.
Intransitive/Personal reflexive - spało sie dobrze, i.e. the sleep/sleeping was good/comfortable.
Inherent - swiat sie smieje or the world is laughing

I can think of no easy way to provide you with a jig, if there is one. I think you'll just have t learn each word individually and check its forms and whether it is reflexive or not. Some reflexive verbs have also non-reflexive forms. The meaning is changed, in simplest terms, by who, other than the speaker, the action was performed upon.

Cię is a personal pronoun used in Genitive and Accusative.

Don't feel bad if this boggles your mind. When they say Polish is not easy, it is a euphemism.

SzwedwPolsceThreads: 13 Posts: 1,915 Joined: Feb 21, 09 ♂	Edited by: SzwedwPolsce Jul 6, 11, 11:49 #3
się = myself, yourself, himself, herself... etc. myję się = I wash myself myjesz się = you wash yourself ona myje się = she washes hersef *cię = you* (in accusative and genitive cases)** - means the same as ciebie. Kocham cię = I love you Ona lubi cię = She likes you

SzwedwPolsceThreads: 13 Posts: 1,915 Joined: Feb 21, 09 ♂	Edited by: SzwedwPolsce Jul 8, 11, 14:16 #4
Do you understand the difference now? It means 2 completely different things.

Rain33Threads: 15 Posts: 24 Joined: Jul 5, 11 ♀	Jul 19, 11, 06:40 #5
I think I understand, although sometimes I see ci in the middle of a sentence and don't know why it's placed in the middle of a sentence.

jyjkhfa	Jul 19, 11, 12:23 #6
Rain33: see ci in the middle of a sentence and don't know why it's placed in the middle of a sentence. ci answers the question komu czemu. It's a short way of saying Tobie (you in Dat case) Zrobię ci kolację? Komu zrobię kolację?

shinga	Jul 19, 11, 12:29 #7
"cię" is in the accusative case, "ci" is in the dative case.

SzwedwPolsceThreads: 13 Posts: 1,915 Joined: Feb 21, 09 ♂	Edited by: SzwedwPolsce Jul 19, 11, 12:41 #8
You should get a Polish course book. Because you need to learn the cases systematically. Ci is dative. It is usually "when you do something for someone". Dam ci ksiażkę. (I will give you the book) Zrobię ci kawę. (I will make you coffe) Here is the translation for you (singular): Nom: Ty Acc: Cię (ciebie) Gen: Cię (ciebie) Dat: Ci Loc: Tobie Instr: Tobą

jyjkhfa	Jul 19, 11, 13:02 #9
SzwedwPolsce: Dat: Ci Maybe it's a colloquial mistake but many people use also Tobie in dative case.

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Edited by: SzwedwPolsce Jul 19, 11, 13:06 #10

jyjkhfa:

Maybe it's a colloquial mistake but many people use also Tobie in dative case.

You can also find it in some grammar books. (Dative: Tobie used after prepositions or in stressed or emphasized positions. Where Ci should not be used.) But there are many other things that are more importat.

I dont want her to confuse it with the locative case, in this early stage of learning Polish. It is better to think tobie=locative.

Here are all pronouns But part of it is rather advanced knowledge.

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