Tag Archives: nouns
Two Ears and Two Eyes Posted by Anna on Feb 25, 2010
I was writing something yesterday, in Polish, as it happens, and I almost had a nervous breakdown. Why? Plural forms of “number + noun” combinations are enough to drive anyone insane, even a native Pole. And it all looked so simple! I was talking about body parts, more specifically, those body parts that come in…
Sympathy for “Sympatia” Posted by Anna on Feb 15, 2010
Valentine’s Day (walentynki) came and went and I hope it was a pleasant occasion for you with czekoladki (chocolates), kwiatki (flowers) and romantyczna kolacyjka (romantic dinner). (Yes, all of the above are diminutive nouns, but that’s how we would say it). What this Valentine’s Day made me realize was how confusing the word “sympatia” is…
Why Polish Feminine Nouns Can Be Confusing Posted by Anna on Feb 9, 2010
Adam’s post about feminine endings for occupations and positions held by women made me think about feminine gender nouns in general. That proposed ending “-a” makes it very easy to assume that Polish feminine nouns should end in “-a”. And yes, many indeed do. But not all. There are some nouns that even though they…
Who’s Who in the Family Posted by Anna on May 22, 2009
Today’s post is about something that even I have problems with. Brother’s wife wife’s brother and sister’s husband and husband’s sister and sister’s daughter’s best friend’s neighbor’s son. Or something like that. Either I’m monumentally stupid, or it’s really easy in English. Just stick “in-law” at the end of anything you’re not quite sure of…
Polish Diminutives – one more time Posted by Anna on Apr 7, 2009
I think I should add a brief explanation regarding my previous post on diminutive proper names. I am fully aware that if you really want to you can create zdrobnienia of just about any name out there, including Agnieszka, for example. The difference between some names and others is this: while very few perfect strangers…
Gender and Occupations, continued… Posted by Anna on Mar 28, 2009
Remember when I mentioned that the EU head honchos in Brussels want us to stop using gender specific names for professions? I also said that it was something I agreed with. Wow! I never thought that that particular post would provoke so many emails. Both for and against. But you see, we already have many…
Polish Numbers Revisited Posted by Anna on Mar 12, 2009
Tomorrow is Friday the 13th (piątek, trzynastego) but instead of writing about superstitions (przesądy), I thought we should take another look at liczebniki (numbers) instead. A number (no pun intended) of you had questions about numbers, and since they are all very valid questions, it’s more convenient to answer them in a separate blog post…