Learn how to relay a simple phone message
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to Polishpod101.com. This is Business Polish for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 16 - Passing on a Polish Message. Michael here. |
| Marzena: Cześć, I'm Marzena. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to pass on a message. The conversation takes place at the office. |
| Marzena: It's between Karolina and a secretary. |
| Michael: The speakers are co-workers, therefore, they will speak formal Polish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| sekretarka: Pani Karolino, dzwonił pan Kozłowski, chciał wiedzieć kiedy jego projekt będzie gotowy. Brzmiał na zdenerwowanego. |
| Karolina: Mówił coś jeszcze? |
| sekretarka: Nie, tylko prosił, żeby pani jak najszybciej do niego oddzwoniła. |
| Karolina: Rozumiem, czy były do mnie jeszcze jakieś telefony? |
| sekretarka: Tak, pani Monika dzwoniła i mówiła, że będzie trochę później. Coś ją zatrzymało. Brzmiała na lekko zmartwioną. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| sekretarka: Pani Karolino, dzwonił pan Kozłowski, chciał wiedzieć kiedy jego projekt będzie gotowy. Brzmiał na zdenerwowanego. |
| Karolina: Mówił coś jeszcze? |
| sekretarka: Nie, tylko prosił, żeby pani jak najszybciej do niego oddzwoniła. |
| Karolina: Rozumiem, czy były do mnie jeszcze jakieś telefony? |
| sekretarka: Tak, pani Monika dzwoniła i mówiła, że będzie trochę później. Coś ją zatrzymało. Brzmiała na lekko zmartwioną. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| secretary: Ms. Karolina, Mr. Kozlowski called and wanted to know when his project will be ready. He sounded somewhat angry. |
| Karolina: Did he say anything else? |
| secretary: No, he just asked that you call him back as soon as possible. |
| Karolina: Okay, were there any other calls to me? |
| secretary: Yes, Ms. Monika called and said that she will be a little late. Something stopped her. She sounded a little bit worried. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: It sounds like this late project is starting to cause problems for Karolina. |
| Marzena: Yeah, it sounds like Mr. Kozlowski is not happy about the delay. |
| Michael: And Monika is late, too. |
| Marzena: It’s all happening to Karolina, isn’t it? |
| Michael: I hope that everything works out for her. |
| Marzena: Me too. I also hope that it’s nothing serious that is delaying Monika. |
| Michael: If you’re going to be late or absent, calling ahead to notify someone is the right thing to do, right? |
| Marzena: Yes. It’s a big no-no to be absent without notice in Poland. |
| Michael: So let your employer know if you will be absent. |
| Marzena: Then they can cover for you. Most companies will have contingency plans to cover work. |
| Michael: Let’s hear an example sentence that might be useful in this situation. |
| Marzena: Marek nie pojawił się dzisiaj w pracy i nie powiadomił o tym nikogo. |
| Michael: "Mark did not show up to work today and he didn't let anybody know." Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Marzena: dzwonić [natural native speed] |
| Michael: "make a telephone call, to call" |
| Marzena: dzwonić [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: dzwonić [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have... |
| Marzena: zdenerwowany [natural native speed] |
| Michael: "nervous" |
| Marzena: zdenerwowany [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: zdenerwowany [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have... |
| Marzena: brzmieć [natural native speed] |
| Michael:"to sound" |
| Marzena: brzmieć [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: brzmieć [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have... |
| Marzena: mówić [natural native speed] |
| Michael: "to speak" |
| Marzena: mówić [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: mówić [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have... |
| Marzena: prosić [natural native speed] |
| Michael: "to ask, to say ‘please’" |
| Marzena: prosić [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: prosić [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have... |
| Marzena: oddzwonić [natural native speed] |
| Michael: "to call back" |
| Marzena: oddzwonić [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: oddzwonić [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have... |
| Marzena: zatrzymać [natural native speed] |
| Michael: "to hold, to stop" |
| Marzena: zatrzymać [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: zatrzymać [natural native speed] |
| Michael: And lastly... |
| Marzena: zmartwiony [natural native speed] |
| Michael: "worried, upset" |
| Marzena: zmartwiony [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: zmartwiony [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Michael: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Marzena: oddzwonić |
| Michael: meaning "to call back." |
| Michael: This is a phrase made from a verb. |
| Marzena: It consists of the verb dzwonić "to call" and the prefix od- |
| Michael: That prefix means "from." This is a useful phrase during phone calls. |
| Marzena: It can be used in formal and informal situations. |
| Michael: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say... Proszę oddwonić później. |
| Michael: ... which means "Call back later please." |
| Michael: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Marzena: Coś ją zatrzymało. |
| Michael: meaning "Something stopped her." |
| Michael: Let’s break down this phrase. |
| Marzena: Coś means "something" and is a combination of co, "what", and the ending ś. Next is ją. |
| Michael: This means "her." The last word in this phrase means "hold." |
| Marzena: Yes, that’s zatrzymało. |
| Michael: You can use this phrase to say that something is causing a delay, without giving a specific reason. |
| Marzena: It is not informal, but should not be used in a very formal setting. |
| Michael: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say... Może coś ją zatrzymało? |
| Michael: ... which means "Maybe something stopped her?" |
| Michael: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn about passing on a message. To pass on a message, we need a verb we heard earlier in this lesson. |
| Marzena: Yes; dzwonić. |
| Michael: To remind you, that means "to call." To pass a message, you simply change this verb to past tense 3rd person singular. |
| Marzena: The masculine is dzwonił. The feminine is dzwoniła. |
| Michael: Let’s hear some examples. |
| Marzena: Dzwonił pan Michał. Prosił, żeby oddzwonić. |
| Michael: "Mr. Michal called and was asking to call him back." |
| Marzena: Dzwoniła pani z ABC, ale się nie przedstawiła. |
| Michael: "A lady from ABC called, but she didn’t give her name." |
| Marzena: Next, we will look at brzmiał na, |
| Michael: "sounded like." When we talk about speaking to someone over the phone, we might want to talk about how they sounded. |
| Marzena: To do this, we need the verb brzmieć; "to sound like." |
| Michael: How is this conjugated for men and women? |
| Marzena: The masculine is brzmiała. The feminine is brzmiał. |
| Michael: Both are perfective verbs in the past tense. |
| Marzena: If you want to say that someone "sounds like something," you can use brzmi for both. |
| Michael: These verbs are then usually followed by a preposition. |
| Marzena: na, which means "on." |
| Michael: Then there is an adjective in the genitive case. Let’s hear an example. |
| Marzena: On brzmiał na bardzo zdenerwowanego. |
| Michael: "He sounded really nervous." If the verb is followed by an adverb, then you don’t use that preposition. For example... |
| Marzena: To brzmi bardzo ciekawie. |
| Michael: "This sounds really interesting." |
| Marzena: To brzmi trochę skomplikowanie. |
| Michael: "This sounds a little bit complicated." |
Outro |
| Michael: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Marzena: Do zobaczenia! |
Comments
HideCan you write a sentence using the verb "oddzwonić"?
Hi Francisco!
Thank you for bringing this to our attention! 😊 You're correct that "zdenerwowany" (upset) can mean both "nervous" and "upset" depending on the context. In Polish, the nuances can vary, and it's great that you're looking into multiple sources for a deeper understanding.
If you have any more questions or need further clarification, feel free to let us know.
Dziękujemy! (Thank you!)
Team PolishPod101.com
looking at several dictionaries, zdenerwowany does not mean nervous but upset
Hello Sandra Austin,
Thank you for studying with us and sharing your feedback.
You're right, “brzmiał” is masculine and “brzmiała” is feminine.
However, the mentioned prefix "od-" means "from". It seems our host Michael made a mistake while recording this lesson. We're very sorry about that!
Should you have any questions, let us know.
Best,
Hanna
Team PolishPod101.com
I believe I detected two errors in Passing On a Polish Message and wanted to mention them in case you want to edit your transcript. Please know that I am commenting on this to be helpful, not to criticize. I very much appreciate receiving your PolishPod lessons, and find them to be excellent learning tools. Thank you for your fine work.
In the KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES section:
Michael: That prefix means "from." This is a useful phrase during phone calls.
(error: The audio says “form”, rather than “from”.)
In the Lesson Focus section:
Marzena: The masculine is brzmiała. The feminine is brzmiał.
(error: I think the masculine is “brzmiał” and the feminine is “brzmiała”.
Hi Justin Napierala,
Thank you for posting.
Could you specify where is the mentioned mistake, please? The dialogue audio is correct.
Sincerely,
Hanna
Team PolishPod101.com
The speaker says "brzmiał na" is for a woman.