"Jest Mi" vs "Jestem" - the difference

Hi, having a spot of bother....can someone please explain to me the difference between Jest Mi and Jestem??? Or is this to do with cases (nom, dat, loc, voc etc) again? I'm really struggling to get my head round cases :(

James

If i have done my homework correctly i think the verb "byc" is bendt like this:

ja jestem ,ty jestes ,on(ona,ono) jest, my jestesmy ,wy jestescie ,oni(one) sa.

Sorry for not having the polish letters.

I could be wrong ,but i think Jestem is "I am" and Jest mi means "there is me".

Jestem = Ja jestem = I am


"Jest mi" is completely different thing. It usually describes your state.

Jest mi (how?) przykro = I am sorry

Jest mi (how?) dobrze = I am happy

przykro also = sad


..
...

"your state" is a definition a little bit too wide, I'd say it describes how you're feeling, both emotionally and the way you feel (perceive) an external stimulus.
In the case of feelings you may usually use 2 ways of expressing it:
Jest mi smutno = Jestem smutny (I feel sad/I'm sad)
Jest mi wesoło = Jestem wesoły (I'm happy/glad)

but here's the twist - as witek7205 said "jest mi + adverb" describes a state of things, very often temporary, while "Jestem + adjective" can have the same meaning or can decribe your permanent characteristics, "Jestem wesoły" can mean "I'm a happy person, I don't worry often"

grammatical remark:
you can skip the verb entirely, and inverse the order of pronoun/adverb:
Jest mi wesoło = Wesoło mi
jest mi smutno = smutno mi

some of those feelings can be expressed only with "jest me"for example:
Szkoda mi - I regret (can also be translated with "I wish that ...")
Ale mi głupio - I feel so stupid
('ale jestem głupi" means "I'm so stupid", and of course you can say that too, both in Polish and in English, but noone means he's really stupid, as an idiot, you use this sentence in the sense "feeling [temprarily] stupid" for having done some big mistake)


now external stimulus - Jest mi zimno (I'm feeling cold), jest mi ciepło (warm) - you CANNOT say "jestem zimny/ciepły", it's meaningless (of course you may say "ciało jest zimne od 2 godzin" = "the body has been cold for 2 hours")


and btw

I'm sad = jestem smutny :)
jestem przykry - I wouldn't say that

i won't. thanks :)

Jestem Anglikiem i jestem bardzo zadowolony tutaj. Przykro mi ze taz zle zawolalem sie wczorai.

Dzisiaj pogoda jest fantastyczna a wiec mi tak cieplo

I jestem bardzo cieply would be in the sense that by body has been cooked in an oven! Sometimes these impersonal expressions therefore have to be used.

Sorry, that should have been spelt wczoraj!

for me it is...

Jestem ... - I am ...

Jest mi ... - (lit.) "it is ... to me" OR "it is ... for me"

Two ways of expressing your condition, though it's a bit more complicated than that. Just thought I'd try to summarise it.

oops, sorry I didn't see that the other one had been replied to. Ok, I think that helps me a lot....so would I be right in saying that if I wanted to say:

I'm cold, I'm hungry, I am thirsty, I'm sleepy etc I would use Jest Mi....but if I wanted to say something more permanent like.....I'm a doctor? (Don't know if that's a good example!) I could use Jestem?

You could and you have to use "jestem" (I'm a doctor = Jestem lekarzem, because "doktor" is used in Polish in 2 meanings as "lekarz" - medicine doctor, and as a scholar title, that comes after "magister" (MA) - you are magister after finishing University or other 5-year studies, then you can stay at the University and become "doktor", so if you said "Jestem doktorem" it would mean you have that degree (is it Ph.D. in English, I think)



unfortunatelly, it's not THAT simple :(

when you talking about some basic needs (thirst, hunger, sleep) there are some fixed expressions that should be used:

I'm cold - jest mi zimno / zimno mi
I'm hungry - jestem głodny
I am thirsty - chce mi się pić / [or seldom] hestem spragniony
I'm sleepy - jestem śpiący / chce mi się spać

chce mi się (that appears in some of the above examples) is an impersonal version of the verb "to want" - Ja chcę >> chce mi się (I hope you notice the analogy between the use of personal/impersonal forms "jestem/jest mi" and "chcę/chce mi się")