Bill MacKenty

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The nightmare that is learning Polish…

So I’m taking a class at a local university and learning Polish.  I probably know about 200 words, and I’m learning a great deal about grammar, and vocabulary, The instructor is very good, and the class is moving along at a good pace for new Polish speakers. I’d say I’m getting about 50% of the material, and my Polish is getting much better.

..until that is, I encountered this sentence in my textbook… (this is an actual quote)

“Adjectives referring to masculine inanimate and neuter nouns take in the accusative the same forms as in the nominative.  Masculine adjectives referring to animate nouns take in the accusative the -ego ending, and female adjectives, the ending -q. ...Note that the singular -i- appears between the stems ending in K, G, and ending -ego. The -i- marks palatalization of K and G.”

I’m a pretty smart guy, but these Polish declensions are kicking my ass!

Who changes the NOUN and ADJECTIVE depending on the verb (and it’s gender) in the sentence ?!

Ooof.  I’ll keep trying to learn, but I just had to vent a little.

On 07 March 2007, Kasia from Kurozwęki inscribed the following thoughts about this post:

Don’t worry. I speak polish since I was born and can’t understand it just the same as you!

P.S. I tracked down your blog, ha!