Vocabulary - Słownictwo

Nouns - Rzeczowniki

We didn't get all the plurals used in this lesson, but I included them just to learn more. Notice how the male family members are pluralized ending in -owie most of the time. Note: Małżeństwo means both the institution of marriage, and the couple. For example:

Jesteśmy małżeństwem	We are married, we are a married couple, we are spouses
Nasze małżeństwo jest dobre	Our marriage is good
Tamto małżeństwo ma dziecko	That married couple has a child
Twoje małżeństwo	Your marriage

Another note on vocabulary (It was discussed in the comments so I’ll add it here): Rodzic is a masculine personal noun… even if one of the parents is a woman, or even both. So even if it is a lesbian couple rasising a child, rodzice is still a masculine personal noun. Example:

Moi rodzice nie mówią po angielsku

My parents do not speak English

And a last note on vocabulary: Rodzeństwo is a group noun, so it can be singular and still signify one or more siblings, and it can be plural and mean several groups, but that’s unlikely and they are both written the same way. Example:

Twoje rodzeństwo pije wino	Your sibling is drinking wine
	OR Your siblings are drinking wine

This lesson has three functions:

1. To teach us about family vocabulary
2. To apply the instrumental case to more words and in more contexts
3. To use the genitive as a possessive

During the normal vocabulary we also use the possessive pronouns from previous lessons more often in here, to explain whose family member we mean in a sentence. Let’s see the sentences we see where the vocabulary is the main point from the lesson: I’ll mark the accusative words in purple, and bold the part where they changed in declension. Instrumental in blue.

Moje siostry mnie lubią	My sisters like me
Moja córka mnie kocha	My daughter loves me
	We can study the order of words here again. Technically we could say “Moja córka kocha mnie”, but it sounds weird to most native speakers.
-
To jest mój tata	This is my dad
Mój ojciec je śniadanie	My father is eating breakfast
Moje małe siostry, moi mali bracia	My little sisters, my little brothers
Twój brat pisze list	Your brother is writing a letter
To jest moja siostra	This is my sister
Nasza mama nosi kapelusz	Our mom wears a hat
To jest mój syn	This is my son
Wasze matki, wasi ojcowie	Your mothers, your fathers
Moi synowie, moje córki	My sons, my daughters
Twój wujek jest stary	Your uncle is old
Znam jej wujka	I know her uncle
Nasza ciocia pisze książkę	Our aunt is writing a book
Mój mąż nosi płaszcz	My husband wears an overcoat
Masz rodzinę?	Do you have a family?
Macie rodzinę?	Do you (plural you) have a family?
	(kind of an insensitive thing to ask…)
Moja żona ma kapelusz	My wife has a hat
Jego ciocia i jego wujek	His aunt and his uncle
-
Mąż i żona	Husband and wife (let’s be more diverse…)
Mąż i mąż	Husband and husband
Żona i żona	Wife and wife (that’s more like it)
-
Twoja rodzina nie jest mała	Your family is not small
Mój dziadek lubi smaczne ryby	My grandfather likes tasty fish
Widzę dziadka	I see (my) grandfather
	(the fact that is ours is implied when we don’t specify whose grandpa it is)
Czy masz rodzeństwo?	Do you have siblings?
Wasze babcie mają kapelusze	Your grandmas have hats
Twoja mama mnie nie lubi	Your mom does not like me (trouble with the in-laws…)
-
Moja mama i mój tata to moja rodzina	My mom and my dad are my family
Moja mama i mój tata są moją rodziną	My mom and my dad are my family

Instrumental - Narzędnik

We don’t really learn anything new about the instrumental case in this lesson, but it’s just that we hadn’t had the chance to practice it as much without this kind of vocabulary. So Duolingo put a bunch of exercises with the instrumental case in this lesson. I took note of most sentences through the five levels, and took note of some cases that had discussion in the comments. Let’s see:

Jestem mamą	I am a mom
	From the comments, how would a mom say “I am mom” as if teaching a baby or striving to get recognized?
Jestem twoją mamą	I am your mom
To ja, (twoja) mama	It’s me, (your) mom
-
Jestem ojcem	I am a father
Jesteście siostrami?	Are you sisters? (plural most often ends in -ami, remember?)
Ona i moja matka są siostrami	She and my mother are sisters
Ona jest córką	She is a daughter
Mój tata jest wujkiem	My dad is an uncle
	(caution, doesn’t imply of the same person)
Jestem ciocią!	I am an aunt!
Jesteś jego ciocią?	Are you his aunt?
Jestem rodzicem	I am a parent
-
Jesteśmy małżeństwem	We are married, we are a married couple, we are spouses
	Małżeństwo means both the institution of marriage, and the couple.
-
Jestem dziadkiem!	I am a grandfather!
Jesteś jej bratem?	Are you her brother?
Czy jesteś jej córką?	Are you her daughter?
Moja mama i mój tata są moją rodziną	My mom and my dad are my family
Brat i siostra są rodzeństwem	A brother and a sister are siblings

Possessive Genitive

In this lesson we see a few examples, not really that many, of the genitive case used to express possession. In English we would accomplish this by adding an apostrophe and an s. For example: That boy‘s mother. Let’s see the examples in Polish too. I marked Instrumental in blue and Genitive in red.

Jestem synem tej kobiety	I am this woman’s son
Jestem córką tego mężczyzny	I am this man’s daughter
Mąż tej kobiety nie mówi po angielsku	This woman’s husband does not speak English
And though it wasn’t in the lesson:
That boy‘s mother	Matka tamtego chłopca

Now that we know genitive nouns and pronouns, there’s many more sentence structures we can make. We’re making progress in speaking a little bit more of Polish! Yay!