Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Betsey: Hello everyone and welcome to PolishPod101.com. This is Polish Beginner series, season 1, lesson 1, Easy Self-Introductions in Polish, Part One. I’m Betsey.
Joanna: And I’m Joanna.
Betsey: In this lesson you’ll learn how to introduce yourself in an informal situation.
Joanna: This conversation takes place at university.
Betsey: The conversation is between Ewa and Jan.
Joanna: They are around the same age, therefore they will be using informal Polish.
Betsey: Let’s listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

Ewa: Cześć.
Jan: Cześć.
Ewa: Jestem Ewa. A ty?
Jan: Mam na imię Jan.
Ewa: Miło mi.
Jan: Bardzo mi miło.
Alisha: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
Ewa: Cześć.
Jan: Cześć.
Ewa: Jestem Ewa. A ty?
Jan: Mam na imię Jan.
Ewa: Miło mi.
Jan: Bardzo mi miło.
Betsey: Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
Ewa: Cześć.
Betsey:Hi.
Jan:Cześć.
Betsey: Hello.
Ewa: Jestem Ewa. A ty?
Betsey: I am Ewa. And you?
Jan: Mam na imię Jan.
Betsey: My name is Jan.
Ewa: Miło mi.
Betsey: Nice to meet you.
Jan: Bardzo mi miło.
Betsey: Very nice to meet you.
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Betsey: Hey Joanna, do Poles always introduce themselves with their first name?
Joanna: Yes, in an informal situation, always. But there’s something very interesting about Polish names.
Betsey: What’s that?
Joanna: Let’s play a guessing game for a second.
Betsey: Okay.
Joanna: There are names like mine - Joanna, and also Asia. Are they two separate names?
Betsey: I have a feeling this is a trick question!
Joanna: Yes, it is.
Betsey: I think those are two separate names, they don’t sound or look alike at all!
Joanna: But it’s the same name. Joanna, we can say, is an official, full name, and Asia is its diminutive. Most Polish names have a few variations.
Betsey: For example?
Joanna: In our dialog we have Jan, right?
Betsey: Yes. So what will be diminutive of Jan?
Joanna: Janek for adults and Jaś for children.
Betsey: So there’s a difference between diminutives for children and adults?
Joanna: Sometimes the diminutive sounds childish for us, like in case of Jaś. You will never hear an adult being called by this name.
Betsey: So what will be some other examples?
Joanna: If you ever meet Katarzyna, you’d probably call her Kasia. If it’s Anna, you will call her Ania. As for male names - Krzysztof is Krzysiek or Krzyś if he’s a child. And Piotr can be called Piotrek.
Betsey: Wow, that’s really interesting! Now let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Betsey: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
Betsey: The first word we shall see is-
Joanna: cześć [natural native speed]
Betsey: hello, hi
Joanna: cześć [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Joanna: cześć [natural native speed]
Betsey: Next.
Joanna: być [natural native speed]
Betsey: to be
Joanna: być [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Joanna: być [natural native speed]
Betsey: Next.
Joanna: ty [natural native speed]
Betsey: you (singular)
Joanna: ty [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Joanna: ty [natural native speed]
Betsey: Next.
Joanna: ja [natural native speed]
Betsey: I
Joanna: ja [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Joanna: ja [natural native speed]
Betsey: Next.
Joanna: mieć [natural native speed]
Joanna: to have
Joanna: mieć [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Joanna: mieć [natural native speed]
Betsey: Next.
Joanna: na [natural native speed]
Betsey: for
Joanna: na [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Joanna: na [natural native speed]
Betsy: Next
Joanna: bardzo [natural native speed]
Betsey: very (much)
Joanna: bardzo [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Joanna: bardzo [natural native speed]
Betsye: And Last.
Joanna: jak [natural native speed]
Betsey: how
Joanna: jak [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Joanna: jak [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Betsey: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Joanna, What’s the first word?
Joanna:‘Cześć’, which means “hello” or “hi”.
Betsey: It’s a popular greeting among all generations.
Joanna: That’s true. You will hear it all the time when you’re in Poland.
Betsey: Can it be used with anyone?
Joanna: It’s reserved for friends, relatives, or people who you've met before and who are around your age.
Betsey: In other words, we can use it only in informal situations.
Joanna: Exactly.
Betsey Okay, what’s the next word?
Joanna:‘Siema’
Betsey: This is another popular greeting.
Joanna: Yes, especially among young people, so be sure to use it towards your friends ONLY.
Betsey: This time let’s talk about a phrase.
Joanna: Okay, let’s take a closer look at ‘miło mi cię poznać?’
Betsey:...in English “nice to meet you”.
Joanna: It’s rather long phrase, isn't it?
Betsey: Can we make it shorter?
Joanna: Yes, Poles usually say just "‘miło mi’".
Betsey: So say this whenever you meet someone for the first time and shake their hand.
Joanna: That’s right!
Betsey: Okay, let’s move on to grammar section.

Lesson focus

Betsey: In this lesson we’re going to learn how to introduce yourself and ask for someone’s name in Polish.
Joanna: Yes, it means that we will talk about a very useful verb in Polish, which is ‘być’.
Betsey:“to be”
Joanna: In the dialog you heard Ewa saying - ‘Jestem Ewa.’
Betsey:“I’m Ewa”.
Joanna: That’s the easiest way of introducing yourself. Just start with ‘jestem’, which is conjugated to 1st person, and then say your name.
Betsey: Our verb changed a lot after we put it into a sentence.
Joanna: That’s true. Probably the verb “to be” is irregular in almost every language, and Polish is no different here.
Betsey: The only solution then is to memorize the forms.
Joanna: Exactly. There are three main verb conjugation groups in Polish.
Betsey: What does this mean?
Joanna: It means that most verbs will follow some pattern when being conjugated. The others, like the verb ‘być,’ unfortunately you will have to memorize.
Betsey: Is there any other way to tell someone your name?
Joanna: Yes, there is. In our dialog Jan used the other way, which was ‘Mam na imię Jan’.
Betsey:“My name is Jan.”
Joanna: Here the verb used is ‘mieć’.
Betsey:“to have”
Joanna: Yes, it’s quite different from English, isn't it? ‘Mam na imię..’ literally means..
Betsey:“I have for a name”
Joanna: But we will use the English equivalent, which is..
Betsey:“My name is..”
Joanna: It’s worth pointing out that the expression ‘Mam na imię..’ asks for your first name only.
Betsey: Is the verb used in this expression also an irregular verb?
Joanna: No, this one follows a pattern, so be sure to check the lesson notes for the full conjugation table.
Betsey: So let’s practice saying your name in Polish together. Please repeat the beginning after Joanna and finish the sentence with your name.
Joanna:‘Mam na imię …...’
Betsey: What about asking someone else’s name?
Joanna: It’s very easy. In the dialogue after Ewa gave her name, she asked Jan about his by saying ‘A ty?’
Betsey:“And you?”
Joanna: This is the simplest way of asking about someone else’s name.
Betsey: I assume there’s one more way, more complicated.
Joanna: Yes, you’re right. The other one uses the verb ‘mieć’, which we talked about a few second before.
Betsey: So what does the question look like?
Joanna:‘Jak masz na imię?’
Betsey:“What’s your name?”
Joanna: As you can hear we used the expression ‘mieć na imię’ again. The first word in the question is ‘jak’, which means..
Betsey:“How”
Joanna: So the literal translation of ‘Jak masz imię?’ is...
Betsey:“how do you have for a name?”
Joanna: But here again we will stick to the English equivalent
Betsey:“What’s your name?”
Joanna:Lastly one important piece of information - in Polish we don’t really use the verb ‘być’ to obtain someone’s name directly, so please be careful about it and use the expressions we've just talked about.
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Betsey: Okay, that’s it for this lesson. Thank you for listening everyone, and be sure to check the lesson notes.
Joanna: Do widzenia.

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