{"id":635,"date":"2009-11-05T23:58:16","date_gmt":"2009-11-06T03:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=635"},"modified":"2009-11-05T23:58:16","modified_gmt":"2009-11-06T03:58:16","slug":"polish-homonyms-or-is-it-homophones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/polish-homonyms-or-is-it-homophones\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish Homonyms (or is it homophones?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just yesterday someone asked me for examples of words (Polish words, of course) that sound the same, are spelled the same, but mean something totally different. You know, like in English light<\/em>, and right<\/em>, and stuff like that. Can\u2019t think of more examples right off the bat. Oh yeah, and a bat<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But suddenly, when I had to give some examples in Polish, I was stumped. The fact that I\u2019m very easily stumped you all know already very well. So, I decided to take the easy way out and say that in Polish we have different words for different things. Yeah, that was lame, I know. And totally not true.<\/p>\n

But apart from prawo<\/strong> and lewo<\/strong>, I couldn\u2019t come up with any other examples.<\/p>\n

Prawo<\/strong> could be either a noun or an adverb.
\nAs a noun, it\u2019s neuter in gender and it means \u201claw\u201d, as in \u201cI\u2019m studying law\u201d \u2013 Studiuj\u0119 prawo<\/strong>.
\nAs an adverb, it means \u201cright\u201d as in \u201cto turn right\u201d \u2013 skr\u0119ci\u0107 w prawo<\/strong>.
\nLewo<\/strong> is an adverb too, and it\u2019s the opposite of prawo<\/strong>, as in \u201cto turn left\u201d \u2013 skr\u0119ci\u0107 w lewo<\/strong>.
\nBut if you use it in a phrase like \u201cza\u0142atwi\u0119 to na lewo<\/strong>\u201d, it means something like \u201cI\u2019ll get it done, but not quite legally, under the table, etc\u2026\u201d Which smells of kombinowanie<\/strong>, in a rather negative way, so there you have it.<\/em>
\nOK, what else? Niebo<\/strong> (noun, neuter<\/em>) can mean either \u201csky\u201d or \u201cHeaven\u201d.
\nT\u0119py<\/strong> (adjective, feminine singular<\/em>: t\u0119pa<\/strong>, neuter singular:<\/em> t\u0119pe<\/strong>, pl masc personal<\/em>: t\u0119pi<\/strong>, all others plural: <\/em>t\u0119pe<\/strong>) can mean either blunt, dull (as in not sharp) or stupid. There is even a noun derived from t\u0119py<\/strong> to describe a particularly dumb and uncouth person: t\u0119pak<\/strong>.
\nAnd here I draw a blank\u2026<\/p>\n

So, please, by all means, feel free to add to the list. Or else we\u2019ll have to stick with the version that in Polish we have all sorts of different words for all sorts of different things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just yesterday someone asked me for examples of words (Polish words, of course) that sound the same, are spelled the same, but mean something totally different. You know, like in English light, and right, and stuff like that. Can\u2019t think of more examples right off the bat. Oh yeah, and a bat. But suddenly, when…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[78,79],"class_list":["post-635","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-homonyms","tag-homophones"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t