Originally I had written this as an optional lesson, but what better way to get my blog started than writing this outside of the scope of Duolingo. So, Valentine's Day is near and we should learn some concepts from the poetic lyrics that are around and see if we can be more romantic in Polish.
By the way, in case you’ve been listening to my Music in Polish playlist or my Polish practice and faves playlist just as me, or have played Witcher, now you know a few words from the dedication song at the home page! Also a few other words I learned from songs in my playlist, which I think are good to know for now, so I’ll list them here too. You can skip this sub-chapter if you want, but I think it'll be quite useful! Specially around this year's Valentine's Day 💖. So here's the full song for reference.
Dedication song from Witcher 3: Wilcza zamieć (Priscilla's song - Wolven Storm)
Na szlak moich blizn poprowadź palec,
By nasze drogi spleść gwiazdom na przekór.
Otwórz te rany, a potem zalecz,
Aż w zawiły losu ułożą się wzór.
Z moich snów uciekasz nad ranem,
Cierpka jak agrest, słodka jak bez.
Chcę śnić czarne loki splątane,
Fiołkowe oczy mokre od łez.
Za wilczym śladem podążę w zamieć
I twoje serce wytropię uparte,
Przez gniew i smutek, stwardniałe w kamień
Rozpalę usta smagane wiatrem.
Z moich snów uciekasz nad ranem,
Cierpka jak agrest, słodka jak bez.
Chcę śnić czarne loki splątane,
Fiołkowe oczy mokre od łez.
Nie wiem, czy jesteś moim przeznaczeniem,
Czy przez ślepy traf miłość nas związała.
Kiedy wyrzekłem moje życzenie,
Czyś mnie wbrew sobie wtedy pokochała?
Z moich snów uciekasz nad ranem,
Cierpka jak agrest, słodka jak bez.
Chcę śnić czarne loki splątane,
Fiołkowe oczy mokre od łez.
Run your finger on the trail of my scars,
To connect our ways, in defiance of stars.
Open these wounds, and then heal them,
Until they arrange themselves in the intricate pattern of fate.
You escape from my dreams in the morning,
Sour as a gooseberry, sweet as a lilac.
I want to dream about tangled black curls,
About violet eyes, moist with tears.
In the wake of wolf I'll go in the snowstorm
And I'll track your stubborn heart down.
Through anger and sadness,
Hardened into stone, I'll kindle the lips lashed with the wind.
You escape from my dreams in the morning,
Sour as a gooseberry, sweet as a lilac.
I want to dream about tangled black curls,
About violet eyes, moist with tears.
I don't know if you are my destiny,
Or if love has bounded us by blind luck.
When I uttered my wish,
Did you fall in love with me in spite of yourself then?
You escape from my dreams in the morning,
Sour as a gooseberry, sweet as a lilac.
I want to dream about tangled black curls,
About violet eyes, moist with tears.
So in the song Wilcza Zamieć, we can see the chorus:
Z moich snów uciekasz nad ranem,
Cierpka jak agrest, słodka jak bez.
Chcę śnić czarne loki splątane,
Fiołkowe oczy mokre od łez.
You escape from my dreams in the morning,
Sour as a gooseberry, sweet as a lilac.
I want to dream about tangled black curls,
About violet eyes, moist with tears.
We can see underlined words we know. Moich is just a declension of mój. But why not just check out the words around them to study a bit more. So we know jak..? is how..? But it can also be used to say as or like. Example: Czerwone jak róż - red like a rose, red as a rose Now there’s a few adjectives we can learn from this verse:
| Mokry | wet, moist |
| Cierpki | sour |
| Słodki | sweet |
Now this one is important, we can use it for food, for smells, or for people. People can be sweet, or cute, and we call them słodki. Moja dziewczyna, jesteś słodka - My girlfriend, you’re cute/sweet
| Singular - Liczba pojedyncza | Plural - Liczba mnoga | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polish | English | Polish | English | |
| ♂ | Sen | Dream | Sny | Dreams* |
| ♂ | Lok | Curl, lock of hair | Loki | Curls, locks of hair |
| ⚲ | Oko | Eye | Oczy | Eyes |
| ♂ | Łza | Tear | Łzy | Tears* |
*Łez and Snów are in dopełniacz, genitive case.
Or we can compliment their eyes! Or say we dream of them.
| Kocham twoje oczy | I love your eyes |
| Jesteś w moich snach | You are in my dreams |
And two verbs, one of which I think is pretty important to get what you want:
| English verb Czasownik po angielsku |
Dictionary form Bezokolicznik |
Singular Liczba pojedyncza |
Plural Liczba mnoga |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 os. | 2 os. | 3 os. | 1 os. | 2 os. | 3 os. | ||
| Ja | Ty | On/Ona/ Ono/To |
My | Wy | Oni/One/To | ||
| To want | chcieć | chcę | chcesz | chce | chcemy | chcecie | chcą |
| To dream | śnić | śnię | śnisz | śni | śnimy | śnicie | śnią |
You can now ask (very colloquially) someone Chcesz herbatę? - Do you want tea? Or, if very childlike, you can now ask for something! Chcę ciasteczka! - I want cookies! Now let’s see another line of the song, which contains a very useful word:
Za wilczym śladem podążę w zamieć
I twoje serce wytropię uparte,
I will follow the wolf trail in a blizzard
And I'll track your stubborn heart down.
| Singular - Liczba pojedyncza | Plural - Liczba mnoga | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polish | English | Polish | English | |
| ⚲ | Serce | Heart | Serca | Hearts |
And from a different song in my favorites playlist, Bez Znieczulenia from Happysad:
Teraz chore serce otwieraj
Bez znieczulenia
Bo w mojej głowie zamieć
Czarne, czarne chmury
Open a sick heart now,
Without anesthesia.
In my head a storm,
Black, black clouds
| Teraz | Now |
| Chore | Sick or hurting |
| Singular - Liczba pojedyncza | Plural - Liczba mnoga | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polish | English | Polish | English | |
| ♀ | Zamieć | Storm, blizzard | (Also in the witcher song and title) | |
| ♀ | Chmura | Cloud | Chmury | Clouds |
| ♀ | Głowa | Head | Głowy | Heads |
Now, as a bit of extra material, I've run into a few infographics made by PolishPod101.com, which I thought would be very fitting in this blog as well. They have a whole article with these infographics about Valentine's Day and explanations, so I only post a few as examples, but go check them out by all means! They also have a podcast lesson about Valentine's Day so check it out.
Well that's all for the extra material for now! Make sure to check out the playlists and practice plenty. Singing is a good way to check your pronunciation and to see if you can pronounce the words to the tempo of the song without falling behind! This can be hard with a few of the stronger polish consonants, but keep trying and it will be easier with time.