Learn how to use the past tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to PolishPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 14 - Have You Lost Your Phone in Poland? John here. |
| Marzena: Cześć. I'm Marzena. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the past tense. The conversation takes place at a coffee shop. |
| Marzena: It's between Ann and Thomas. |
| John: The speakers are friends; therefore, they’ll speak informal Polish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Ania: Co się stało? |
| Thomas: Chyba zgubiłem mój telefon. |
| Ania: Ale jak to? Gdzie? |
| Thomas: Poszedłem na obiad do restauracji. Odpisałem na kilka maili i położyłem telefon na stole. |
| Ania: No dobrze i co się stało? |
| Thomas: Wyszedłem na chwilę do toalety. Potem wróciłem, ale telefonu już nie było. |
| Ania: Wiesz Thomas, nie wiem czy "zgubiłem" to jest najlepsze słowo. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Ann: What happened? |
| Thomas: I think I've lost my phone. |
| Ann: Oh how come? Where? |
| Thomas: I went to have dinner at a restaurant. I replied to some e-mails and put the phone on the table. |
| Ann: OK, and what happened? |
| Thomas: I went for a moment to the bathroom. Then I came back, but the phone wasn't there anymore. |
| Ann: You know, Thomas, I'm not sure if "lost" is the best word. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Yeah, I don’t think “lost” is the best phrase there either. |
| Marzena: Right. He didn’t lose his phone, as he knows where it was when he last saw it. |
| John: It sounds more like it was stolen. |
| Marzena: I think so too. |
| John: Are things often stolen in Poland? |
| Marzena: Poland might have a bad reputation, but Poland is a relatively safe country. |
| John: That’s good to hear! |
| Marzena: Yes, recently it was reported that Poland is safer than many other popular destinations in Europe. |
| John: But it’s still not wise to leave your belongings lying around. |
| Marzena: Yes, don’t do that. Don’t leave your belongings lying around or have your purse open, for example. |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Marzena: chyba [natural native speed] |
| John: probably |
| Marzena: chyba[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: chyba [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: zgubić [natural native speed] |
| John: to lose |
| Marzena: zgubić[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: zgubić [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: telefon [natural native speed] |
| John: telephone |
| Marzena: telefon[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: telefon [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: ale [natural native speed] |
| John: but |
| Marzena: ale[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: ale [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: pójść [natural native speed] |
| John: to go |
| Marzena: pójść[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: pójść [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: odpisać [natural native speed] |
| John: to write back |
| Marzena: odpisać[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: odpisać [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: kilka [natural native speed] |
| John: a few |
| Marzena: kilka[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: kilka [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: położyć [natural native speed] |
| John: to put |
| Marzena: położyć[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: położyć [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: wyjść [natural native speed] |
| John: to go out |
| Marzena: wyjść[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: wyjść [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Marzena: chwila [natural native speed] |
| John: moment |
| Marzena: chwila[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: chwila [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Marzena: Ale jak to? |
| John: meaning "But how?" What can you tell us about this phrase? |
| Marzena: Ale is a particle meaning "but." It’s followed by the pronoun jak. |
| John: This pronoun means “how.” |
| Marzena: Then there’s the pronoun to, meaning "this." |
| John: The whole phrase means “but how.” |
| Marzena: You can use this informal expression to show your astonishment. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say, Ale jak to? Co masz na myśli? |
| John: ...which means "But how come? What do you mean?" |
| John: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Marzena: na chwilę |
| John: meaning "for a moment." Can you break this phrase down for us? |
| Marzena: Na is a preposition that means “on." It’s followed by the noun chwila in accusative case. |
| John: This means “a moment.” |
| Marzena: You can use this phrase when talking about an action that will only last for a moment. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say, Muszę wyjść na chwilę. |
| John: ...which means "I have to go out for a moment." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about past tense. |
| John: I’m sure that our listeners have come across the past tense before, even if they haven’t learned how to form it yet. |
| Marzena: I would imagine so. The good news is that there’s only one past tense in Polish. |
| John: You can use this past tense to cover both finished and unfinished actions. |
| Marzena: It’s not difficult, but there are some new forms to learn. |
| John: What are these new forms? |
| Marzena: For singular verbs, we usually take the final ć from the infinitive and add -łem, -łeś, -ł for masculine forms, or -łam, -łaś, -ła for feminine forms. |
| John: What about for the neuter form? |
| Marzena: We only use it for the third singular, “it," but we add -ło. |
| John: What about plural forms? |
| Marzena: We add -liśmy, -liście, -li for masculine personal and -łyśmy, -łyście, -ły for others. |
| John: Are there any irregular verbs? |
| Marzena: Yes, there are. Some verbs, like być which means “to be,” and mieć, meaning “to have,” are irregular. |
| John: The conjugation tables for these are in the lesson notes. Marzena, can you give us some examples? |
| Marzena: Wczoraj przez 3 godziny czytałem książkę. |
| John: “I was reading a book for 3 hours yesterday.” |
| Marzena: Pojechałam nad morze. |
| John: “I went to the sea.” Next, let’s look at the perfective. |
| Marzena: Perfective, or aspekt dokonany, may be one of the most confusing topics in Polish grammar. It’s used to talk about a completed action and is used only in past tense. |
| John: In what kind of situations would we use this aspect? |
| Marzena: Things such as communicating a result, talking about actions chronologically, one-time actions, completed actions, and expressing a moment. |
| John: How do you make a perfective verb? |
| Marzena: By simply adding a prefix to the imperfective verb. There are no clear rules about which prefix to use; you just have to learn them. |
| John: Let’s go through some examples. |
| Marzena: Sure. I’ll say the perfective verb, and John will give you the translation. |
| John: Sounds good. |
| Marzena: zjeść |
| John: “To eat.” |
| Marzena: skończyć |
| John: “To finish.” |
| Marzena: przeczytać |
| John: “To read.” There are more examples in the lesson notes. |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Marzena: Cześć. |
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