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Pan McDonald farmę miał… Posted by on Sep 10, 2010 in Vocabulary

Today I wanted to teach you some words from the “farm language”.

We should probably start with a very popular song:

When I was little I grew up on a farm in Poland and we had cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, turkeys and even a horse. We also had orchards where we grew apples, pears, plums and cherries. It was a lot of work but well worth it, because we had fresh eggs, fruit and vegetables.

Every morning my brothers and I would get up early (wstać rano) and feed all the animals (nakarmić wszystkie zwierzęta). We spent most of our summers picking fruit and vegetables and unfortunately for us there was no time for vacation. You may not think of dogs as “farm animals”, but they are very important. Dogs (psy) help protect the farm by keeping wild animals away. German Sheppards were the dog of choice on our farm and we even used to breed them. And of course my favorite thing to do was to spend time with the little puppies (szczeniaki).

Over the years my parents expanded the orchards and don’t have time to care for the animals any more. They still have dogs on their farm.

My parents kiddingly gave us our very own apple tree. They say that we have to come back to Poland every year to pick our apples.

Here is a little vocabulary for the farm life:

 

zwierzę, zwierzęta – animal, animals

 kura – chicken 

kogut – rooster

kaczka – duck

ś – goose

krowa – cow

byk – bull

jałówka – heifer

cielę – calf

owca – sheep

baran – ram

jagnię – lamb

koza – goat

koźlatko – kid

świnia – pig

prosię – piglet

koń – horse

pies – dog

kot – cat

 

 

inwentarz – livestock

obora, w oborze – barn, in the barn

kurnik, w kurniku – chicken house, in the chicken house

wieś, na wsi – country, in the country

gospodarstwo, w gospodarstwie – farm, on the farm

kombajn – combine

rolnik, rolnicy – farmer, farmers

nawóz sztuczny – fertilizer

nawóz – manure

rola, na roli – land, on the land

żniwa, zbiory – harvest

sad – orchard

widły – pitchfork

grabie – rake

pług – plow

kosa – scythe

traktor – tractor

studnia, w studni – well, in the well

jarzmo – joke

stodoła, w stodole – stable, in the stable

When I was little my parents used to sing to me:

 

W gospodarstwie
Pieje kogut już od świtu:
– Kukuryku! Kukuryku!
Kura do kurczaków żwawo
Gdacze: – W lewo!
Gdacze: – W prawo!
Kaczka kwacze: – Kwa! Kwa! Kwa!
Trzy kaczątka dziobem pcha.
Krowa muczy: Mu! Mu! Mu!
Aż po prostu brak jej tchu.
Koń opędza się od much
I rży głośno: – Jestem zuch!
Świnka chrumka: – Chrum! Chrum! Chrum!
Co za hałas! Co za szum!
Kot cichutko miauczy: – Miau.
A pies szczeka: – Hau! Hau! Hau!

It is a song about sounds made by farm animals. It is really cute and now I sing it to my daughter.

Recently I also found this really nice poem about mother farm animals loosing their babies. It has very cute descriptions of the little ones and I wanted to share it with you:

Na podwórko dumne matki prowadziły swoje dziatki:
Krowa – łaciate cielątko,
Koza – rogate koźlątko,
Owca – kudłate jagniątko,
Ś
winka – różowe prosiątko,
Kurka – pierzaste kurczątko,
Gąska – puchate gąsiątko,
Kaczka – płetwiaste kaczątko,
Każda prowadzi swoje dzieciątko!
Wtem ujrzały pieska Burka, który urwał się ze sznurka.
Tak się bardzo przestraszyły, że aż dzieci pogubiły.
Krowa – łaciate cielątko,
Koza – rogate koźlątko,
Owca – kudłate jagniątko,
Świnka – różowe prosiątko,
Kurka – pierzaste kurczątko,
Gąska – puchate gąsiątko,
Kaczka – płetwiaste kaczątko,
Każda zgubiła swoje dzieciątko!
Wtem gospodarz konną furką wjechał prosto na podwórko.
Zszedł czym prędzej ze swej furki, zamknął Burka do komórki.
Lamentują biedne mamy: „Co my teraz robić mamy?”.
Wtem z kryjówek wyszły dziatki, odnalazły swoje matki:
Krowę – łaciate cielątko,
Kozę – rogate koźlątko,
Owcę – kudłate jagniątko,
Świnkę – różowe prosiątko,
Kurkę – pierzaste kurczątko,
Gąskę – puchate gąsiątko,
Kaczkę – płetwiaste kaczątko,
Znalazło mamę każde dzieciątko.

 

Stanisław Kraszewski „Na wiejskim podwórku

Do następnego razu! (Till next time…)

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About the Author: Kasia

My name is Kasia Scontsas. I grew near Lublin, Poland and moved to Warsaw to study International Business. I have passion for languages: any languages! Currently I live in New Hampshire. I enjoy skiing, kayaking, biking and paddle boarding. My husband speaks a little Polish, but our daughters are fluent in it! I wanted to make sure that they can communicate with their Polish relatives in our native language. Teaching them Polish since they were born was the best thing I could have given them! I have been writing about learning Polish language and culture for Transparent Language’s Polish Blog since 2010.


Comments:

  1. Stefan:

    It’s great. Thank you very much for this material.

  2. Stasia Burns:

    Would it be possible to hear the tune to the song: W gospodarstwie pieje kogut?
    Dziekuje za wszystkie informacje bardzo interesujace. Stasia

  3. Michal M:

    Good list, just a couple of observations.

    First, “ruster” should be “rooster” =)

    grabie = rake

    Also, I’d argue that a barn = stodoła, whereas stable = stajnia, while obora = cow shed (or something like that). For most people the distinction between these probably isn’t that important, but I think this is a little more precise.

    …and another word frequently used for tractor is ciągnik, though it can also be used for other types of vehicles that pull things around.