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Polish zwroty
Just how do you pronounce Polish words?
Unlike English, Polish is pronounced phonetically. Once you
understand where to break the word, and that the second-to-last syllable
is always stressed, you'll do okay by keeping the following in mind. One
note: if the word looks nothing like it sounds, put it down to some
uniquely Polish characters not included here. The Polish alphabet does
have its own surprises. If confused, just look it up in a good
dictionary.
Start with something simple:
- Yes: Tak (as in tick-'tack')
- No: Nie (as in 'nyeh'-nyeh-na-na-na)
- OK: Dobrze ('dough' plus a 'b' then 'she')
Excuse me: Przepraszam (difficult to pronounce because it
includes that oh-so-not-English combo - 'p' merges into 'shey' followed
by 'pra' and 'shem')
- What: Co (often used like an English 'what??' and pronounced 'tso')
- Where: Gdzie ( 'guh' and 'jay')
- When: Kiedy ( 'key yeh dey')
- Who: Kto ( 'k' and 'toe')
- Why: Dlaczego ('dlah' and 'che' and 'go')
- How: Jak ('yak'')
Poles are big on greetings. Remember how to say 'good day'. You can
even say it at night - it has such universality here.
- Good day: Dzien dobry ('jean' and 'dough' plus 'bree' like the
cheese)
- Hi: Czesc (use this one on friends only: 'che sh ch' but run
it all together as one sound)
- Bye: Czesc (works like 'aloha' or 'ciao' or 'salut', making
informal comings and goings easy)
- Good bye: Do widzenia ('dough' and 'wid zen ya' comes close
enough)
- I don't speak Polish: Nie mowie po polsku ('nie' as above, 'moovie'
then 'po' as in really poor, and 'pole sku')
- I speak English: Mowie po angielsku ('moovie' 'po' angielsku)
- I don't understand: Nie rozumiem ( 'nie' we know by now and
'row zoo me m' works for the operative word)
- Help me please: Prosze mi pomoc (for those unexpected tourist
emergencies - note the 'prosze' making yet another appearance, 'mi' is
just like 'me' in English in sound and meaning and the 'po moats'
functions as the HELP signal)
- Please write that down: Prosze to napisac (when you 'nie
rozumiem' but want to, stumble out 'prosze' as above then 'toe' which
means it, and end with 'nah pee sach' which means write)
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