Learn about the imperfective
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to PolishPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 19 - Are You Getting Enough Exercise in Poland? John here. |
| Marzena: Cześć. I'm Marzena. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the imperfective. The conversation takes place in 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 |
| Thomas: Wiesz Aniu, ja mieszkałem kiedyś w Nowym Jorku. |
| Ania: Naprawdę? |
| Thomas: Tak, pracowałem dla firmy Polsko-Amerykańskiej. W każdy weekend jeździłem gdzieś na wycieczkę. Codziennie chodziłem na siłownie i jeździłem na rowerze. |
| Ania: To czemu przestałeś? |
| Thomas: Nie wiem, teraz codziennie jeżdżę samochodem, ale czasem chodzę na spacery. O wiem, jutro pojadę na wycieczkę rowerową! |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Thomas: You know, Ann, I used to live in NY. |
| Ann: Really? |
| Thomas: Yes, I worked for a Polish-American company. Every weekend I went somewhere for a trip. Every day I went to a gym and I used to ride a bicycle. |
| Ann: Then why did you stop? |
| Thomas: I don't know. Now I drive a car every day, but sometimes I go for a walk. Oh, I know, tomorrow I will go for a bicycle trip. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: It sounds like Thomas had a very active life when he lived in New York. |
| Marzena: Yes, and from Ann’s reaction it sounds like his Polish life isn’t so active. |
| John: Yes, but he might be changing that now… or at least trying to. |
| Marzena: It’s good to stay active in your free time. |
| John: How do people spend their free time in Poland? |
| Marzena: Well, wages in Poland are still relatively low, so many people can’t afford to take trips in their free time. |
| John: So do most people stay at home? |
| Marzena: Yeah, most people use their time to do housework and relax with the TV. |
| John: What about those that like to be more active? |
| Marzena: Bicycle trips are popular, as is playing soccer for teenagers. |
| John: Is there any day that people tend to take off or relax more than others? |
| Marzena: Most people won’t do housework or other types of work on Sundays, as this is still considered a Holy Day. |
| 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: wiedzieć [natural native speed] |
| John: to know |
| Marzena: wiedzieć[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: wiedzieć [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: Nowy Jork [natural native speed] |
| John: New York |
| Marzena: Nowy Jork[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: Nowy Jork [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: naprawdę [natural native speed] |
| John: really |
| Marzena: naprawdę[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: naprawdę [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: pracować dla [natural native speed] |
| John: to work for |
| Marzena: pracować dla[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: pracować dla [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: jeździć [natural native speed] |
| John: to drive |
| Marzena: jeździć[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: jeździć [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: siłownia [natural native speed] |
| John: gym |
| Marzena: siłownia[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: siłownia [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: pojechać [natural native speed] |
| John: to go |
| Marzena: pojechać[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: pojechać [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Marzena: wycieczka [natural native speed] |
| John: tour |
| Marzena: wycieczka[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: wycieczka [natural native speed] |
| John: And lastly.., |
| Marzena: rower [natural native speed] |
| John: bicycle |
| Marzena: rower[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Marzena: rower [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 word is... |
| Marzena: wiedzieć |
| John: meaning "to know." What can you tell us about this verb? |
| Marzena: It comes from the same family as the noun wiedza, meaning "knowledge." |
| John: When do we use this verb? |
| Marzena: We use it when we talk about knowing something or being certain about something. |
| John: Are there any other similar verbs? |
| Marzena: Yes, don’t get it confused with znać. This can also be translated as “to know,” but means being acquainted with or familiar with someone or something. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say, Wiesz może, gdzie to jest? |
| John: ...which means "Do you know by any chance where it is?" |
| John: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Marzena: pracować dla |
| John: meaning "to work for." Can you break this phrase down for us? |
| Marzena: This phrase consists of the verb pracować, "to work," and a preposition dla. |
| John: This preposition means “for.” |
| Marzena: You can use this phrase when you’re talking about the company someone is working for. |
| John: Can you use it when you work for an individual, instead of a company, too? |
| Marzena: Yes, you can. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Marzena: Sure. For example, you can say, Pracuję tutaj już trzeci rok dla firmy zagranicznej. |
| John: ...which means "I am working for a foreign company here for the 3rd year already." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about the imperfective. |
| John: As well as tenses, Polish has two aspects - the perfective and imperfective. |
| Marzena: Other Slavic languages have these too. |
| John: What do we use the imperfective aspect for? Our listeners might already know this, but a review is never a bad thing! |
| Marzena: I agree! We can use the imperfective to describe an ongoing, unfinished situation. |
| John: So it can be used for things like ongoing processes, habitual actions, uncompleted actions, and to show there is no result. |
| Marzena: So you can say things like Właśnie gotuję. |
| John: “I’m cooking now.” This is an ongoing process. |
| Marzena: Nie potrafię rozmawiać i czytać jednocześnie. |
| John: “I can’t talk and read at the same time.” These are simultaneous actions. |
| Marzena: Zawsze jadę do szkoły autobusem. |
| John: “I always go to school by bus.” This is a repeated action. |
| Marzena: Codziennie rano uprawiam jogę |
| John: “I do yoga every morning.” This is an habitual action. |
| Marzena: We usually use the imperfective form to make the perfective, but there are some verbs where this process is reversed. |
| John: So, we make the imperfective from the perfective form. |
| Marzena: Yes. An example of this is the perfective spotkać and the imperfective spotykać. |
| John: They both mean “to meet.” There are further examples in the lesson notes. Next, let’s look at compound adjectives. In English, we use a hyphen to string words together, like the word “Polish-American.” |
| Marzena: This isn’t as straightforward in Polish. For the first word, we use the adverbial form of the adjective, which ends in -o. |
| John: Can you give us an example of this? |
| Marzena: For example, biały becomes biało. |
| John: They both mean “white.” |
| Marzena: Then we add the hyphen, like in English, and add the latter part. If we want to change the gender or case, we have to change the latter part. |
| John: Let’s hear an example. How about “sweet and sour?” |
| Marzena: The individual words are słodki and kwaśny. Together, they become słodko-kwaśny. |
| John: And how about “Polish-German?” |
| Marzena: The individual words are polski and niemiecki. Together, they become polsko-niemiecki. |
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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