Pinolona gave us a list of several verbs that cause her a lot of grief. And I would assume, not only her. They cause me a lot of grief, too.<\/p>\n
Up until very recently, I never really paid much attention to Polish verbs. I mean, what was there to pay attention to? You stick a verb in a sentence and hope to make yourself understood, right? All this stuff about perfective and imperfective, aspects, tenses is just a vague cloud in the back of your mind. Or at least, in the back of my mind.<\/p>\n
But in all seriousness, this stuff is important if you want to learn a new language. And even if you think you know the language already (like me), you still may not know the inner workings of grammar. Because speaking a language and actually explaining its grammatical rules are two different things.<\/p>\n
A few posts back when I talked about imperfective and perfective verbs, Michael suggested that it was much easier and less messy in the long run if you\u2019d learn to think about perfective and imperfective forms of the same verb as two distinct verbs instead of bundling them up in pairs. And he was right. Pairing verbs up can only get you so far. But sooner or later you will run into a bunch of examples where it\u2019s best to keep the aspects apart. And Pinolona provided just the examples we need.<\/p>\n
Well, let\u2019s read her comment and then see what we can do about it, OK?<\/p>\n
I get mixed up with stawa\u0107 si\u0119, stara\u0107 si\u0119, zosta\u0107, zostawa\u0107, stawia\u0107<\/strong>. I often confuse \u2018to leave\u2019 (as in to leave something behind) and \u2018to become\u2019 So stawa\u0107 si\u0119<\/strong> is to become and zostawia\u0107<\/strong> is to leave or drop? What\u2019s the difference between zosta\u0107<\/strong> and zostawi\u0107<\/strong> and what are their imperfective equivalents (are they perfective??)?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ouch!
\nOK, let\u2019s take it from the top. First on the list is our old pal \u201cstawa\u0107 si\u0119<\/strong>.\u201d According to what I know, and I hope what I know is correct, this is an imperfective verb. Why? It occurs in the present tense, as in our favorite example: Staj\u0119 si\u0119 coraz g\u0142upsza.<\/strong><\/p>\nWhat is the perfective equivalent?<\/p>\n
\n
- Sta\u0107 si\u0119<\/strong>, if you are talking about \u201cto become\u201d<\/em> (stawa\u0107 with si\u0119<\/strong>) and<\/li>\n
- stan\u0105\u0107<\/strong> if you are talking about stawa\u0107 without si\u0119<\/strong> \u2013 meaning \u201cto stand up.\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
stara\u0107 si\u0119<\/strong> means – to try, to endeavor, to seek, to strive, to do one\u2019s best.
\n Stara\u0107 si\u0119<\/strong> is also an imperfective verb. You can say \u2013 Staram si\u0119.<\/strong> \u2013 I\u2019m doing my best, I\u2019m trying.<\/p>\n\n
- Its perfective form is \u2013 postara\u0107 si\u0119<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
See, many Polish verbs become perfective through the use of prefixes. \u201cPostara\u0107 si\u0119<\/strong>\u201d is one of them.<\/p>\n
OK, next on the list is \u201czosta\u0107<\/strong>.\u201d That\u2019s a perfective verb. It means \u2013 to remain, to stay, to be left over.<\/p>\n
\n
- Its imperfective form is \u201czostawa\u0107<\/strong>.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
For example:
\n Zostaj\u0119 tutaj<\/strong> \u2013 I\u2019m staying (remaining, not leaving) here.<\/p>\nIt can also mean \u201cto become.\u201d<\/em>
\nFor example: Kiedy sko\u0144cz\u0119 szko\u0142\u0119, zostan\u0119 nauczycielk\u0105.<\/strong> \u2013 When I finish school, I\u2019ll become a teacher. (Yeah! In your dreams maybe! Ha!)<\/p>\nAnd finally, stawia\u0107<\/strong>. It also has several meanings, and some depend on that pesky little \u201csi\u0119<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
- stawia\u0107<\/strong> \u2013 to put, to place something somewhere<\/li>\n
- stawia\u0107 czo\u0142o komu\u015b\/czemu\u015b<\/strong> – to defy someone \/sth, to face and deal with a person\/ problem<\/li>\n
- stawia\u0107 na swoim<\/strong> \u2013 to have \/get your (one\u2019s) way<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
and many other expressions, I think I will list them in a separate post.<\/p>\n
\n
- stawia\u0107 si\u0119<\/strong> \u2013 to put one\u2019s foot down (as in disagree with someone), or – to appear, to show up (in court for example)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Stawia\u0107<\/strong> is an imperfective verb. You can say:
\n Zawsze stawiam na swoim.<\/strong> \u2013 I always get my way (get what I want).<\/p>\n\n
- Its perfective form is \u201cpostawi\u0107<\/strong>.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And the best for last:
\n zostawia\u0107<\/strong> \u2013 to leave behind, to abandon, to let it be
\n Zostawia\u0107<\/strong> is imperfective, you can use it in present tense, for example:
\n Zostawiam to dla ciebie<\/strong> \u2013 I\u2019m leaving this for you.<\/p>\n\n
- Zostawi\u0107<\/strong> is its perfective equivalent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
OK, Pino, have I missed anything? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pinolona gave us a list of several verbs that cause her a lot of grief. And I would assume, not only her. They cause me a lot of grief, too. Up until very recently, I never really paid much attention to Polish verbs. I mean, what was there to pay attention to? You stick a…<\/p>\n