Ivan's notebook entry: Aug 22, 2010 . Correct it please

Ja bardzo chcę mówić po polsku. Ja uczę się języka polskiego sam. Najbardziej złożone dla mnie są czasowniki.


Very good, anyhow, Ivan :)


Now a couple of words for explanation:
1) Why chcę not chcię: the infinitive of this verb sounds "chcieć", it belongs to the VIIa conjuction and you shoud indeed cut the "~eć" ending and add "ę" in the first person but... I guess (since I'm not that good at professional Polish grammar and I can only 'guess' ;)) this one is an exception. The correct conjuction in the present tense looks like this:

SINGULAR
I (ja) chcę
II (ty) chcesz
III (on,ona,ono) chce

PLURAL
I (my) chcemy
II (wy) chcecie
III (oni) chcą

And I also think there is a rule... that when the verb's subject ends with "c", "s" or "dz" in the first person (singular) you don't add "~ię" to them but leave just the "~ę" alone. Thanks to that, the verb ends with "~cę", "~sę", "~dzę".
We just don't soften these consonants in the first person (singular).
It would sound funny if somebody said "chcię", "niosię", "widzię" :)) Little kids often say it like this when they just start to learn how to speak - and it appears that it's maybe easier to them to soften too much.
But bigger kids should say:
chcieć - chcę
lecieć (to fly) - lecę
widzieć (to see) - widzę
nieść (to carry; it's from a different conjuction group) - niosę
...and so on.

2) Why polsku not Polski:
In Polish , we use a "constant phrase" when we want to say about speaking or writing in various languages. It consists of a particle "po" and the correct adverb (made from the adjective).
You create this adverb by changing the adjective's "~i" to "~u" (there are exceptions, of course).
Examples:
polski - polsku
rosyjski - rosyjsku
angielski - angielsku
japoński - japońsku
etc.

And so, if you want to say that you speak or write in any of these languages, you should put it like this:
Mówię/piszę po polsku | po rosyjsku | po angielsku | po japońsku.

[[ Adverbs are connected to questions like "how?/ in which way?". You can literally translate this phrase " po + ~u form" as "in <adjective> way".
I mean... if you ever find a dish called "placek po węgiersku" in a Polish menu, know that it means more or less "pie (made) in the Hungarian way". If you'd like to say "let's do it my way", you can put it "zróbmy to po mojemu". "Porozmawiajmy po norwesku" literally means "let's talk in the Norwegian way" or "let's talk like the Norwegians do".
I hope you get what I'm trying to say :) ]]

The second thing is that in Polish language you don't write adjectives with capital letters in the beginning. The only exeptions are in cases when the adjectives are surnames or so called specific names.
For example, you write:
Jan Kowalski (surname)
Rząd Tymczasowy (specific name of government organ)
Makowiecki Band (specific name of a music band)
BUT:
polski, rosyjski, hiszpański, europejski, azjatycki... (adjectives)


3) Why uczę się not uczę: ...the difference between these two is like between "to learn" and "to teach".
When you say "uczę polskiego" it means "I teach Polish". So, you're a teacher. :) If you want to say you're a student of Polish language, you use "uczę się polskiego".

It's a so called pronominal. This small "się" particle changes the "object" of the action.
Examples:
czeszę - I brush (something or someone) >> czeszę się - I brush "myself" (my hair)
myję - I wash (something or someone) >> myję się - I wash myself

[[ ...somethimes changing the verb into a pronominal also changes the sense of the phrase. But that's a slightly higher level :) ]]

Oh, and... why polskiego not polski: when you say "uczę się" you need to ask "kogo? czego?" -> these are the genetive questions.
Just like in this song's chorus -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO1evhvjJZs
"Uczę się ciebie na pamięć" . Uczę się - "kogo? czego?" - ciebie :)


4) Why złożone not złożońsze: weeell... I don't really know how to explain this one to you. "Złożone" is an adjective which doesn't have it's regular or even irregular superlative. Therefore, you have to use the 'descriptive' method of creating it - so you take the "najbardziej" word + adjective in its positive form.
Ihe comparison degrees of this adjective would look like this:

złożone (positive) > bardziej złożone (comparative) > najbardziej złożone (superlative)

You can't "mix" different methods here :) When the adjective/adverb is regular - you use its regular forms for each degree. Like:
drogi (expensive) > droższy > najdroższy
tani (cheap) > tańszy > najtańszy, etc.

The same goes for irregular forms:
dobry (good) > lepszy > najlepszy
zły (bad) > gorszy > najgorszy

You can't, for exampe, say: najbardziej tańszy or bardziej najgorszy, or anything like that. :) If you ever use "bardziej" & "najbardziej" - you can't change the adjective/adverb. You just use them together with positive (unchanged) forms.


5) Why są not jest: "czasowniki" are plural (it means many verbs) - so they need a plural form of "be" :) You would use "jest" if you were talking about one particular verb ("czasownik").


- - -
Pheeew, okay, this is quite a piece of writing I've done here by now. Haha, I hope you got through it somehow and that maybe I was at least a little helpful. :)) Keep it up, Ivan! And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.