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Published: 25/12/2009

Extent: 5 Hrs

 

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Summary:

Learn another language the way you learnt your own

You learnt your own language naturally and enjoyably: now you can learn Polish in the same way.

You'll stick with it because you'll love it

Use the unique method perfected over fifty years by the celebrated psychologist and linguist Michel Thomas.

This method works with your brain, helping you to build up your Polish in manageable, enjoyable steps by thinking out the answers for yourself.

You learn through listening and speaking without the pressure of writing or memorising.

You pick up the language naturally and unforgettably.

The NEW Polish Advanced Course

• Learn another language the way you learnt your own

• Effective method - the Michel Thomas Method of language teaching works with the brain

• Motivating - live classroom situation with two students encourages you to learn with the students on the recording
• All-audio - the way you want to learn

• Pronunciation is gently - but effectively - corrected

• Reference booklet - accompanying booklet lists key phrases in English and Polish

• Suite of progressive and complementary course components: Introductory, Foundation, Advanced, and Vocabulary

• Sales record - the hugely successful Michel Thomas Method is applied to Polish

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Imperative: formal & informal ‘start!’ niech panstwo zaczynaja (formal), zaczynaj! (informal), zaczynajmy! ‘let’s start’
Expressing past tense: revision
Jak dlugo ‘how long’, tak dlugo ‘so long’
Direction: jechac na wakacje ‘to go on holiday’ (movement: na + accusative)
Location: byc na wakacjach ‘to be on holiday’ (static situation: na + locative)
Raz ‘once’ (sequence of time)
Ile ‘how much, how many’; ile razy ‘how many times’
Numerals: wiele ‘many’, wiele razy ‘many times’
Byc ‘to be’, bywac ‘to frequent, to be somewhere frequently’
Expressions of time: codziennie ‘every day’, dziennie ‘daily’, wiele razy dziennie ‘many times a day’, od czasu do czasu ‘from time to time’ (od, do + genitive)
Location: byc nad morzem / oceanem ‘to be by the sea, by the ocean’ (static situation: nad + instrumental)
Demonstrative pronouns: to radio ‘this radio (sg. n)’, te gazety ‘these newspapers’ (pl. non masculine personal)
-cja ‘-tion’ (sytuacja – situation), -zja ‘sion’ (telewizja – television)
Introduction to cases – direct object in positive sentences (accusative)
Adjectival agreement in the direct object position: kupic nowa mape ‘to buy a new map’ (feminine nouns - accusative)
Personal pronouns in the direct object position: mnie ‘me’, ja ‘her’, go ‘him’, ich ‘them’ (masc & mixed) (accusative)
Direct object in negated sentences (genitive)
Expressing phrases: dla mnie ‘for me’, dla niej ‘for her’, dla niego ‘for him’, dla nich ‘for them’ (masc, mixed, fem) (dla + genitive)
Questions with: kogo ‘whom, of whom’, dla kogo ‘for whom’ (dla + genitive)
Czas ‘time (passing of time)’
O tym ‘about this’ (o + locative)
Direct object of masculine and neuter nouns: positive (accusative), negative (genitive) (genitive and accusative are the same for masculine personal singular)
Pana brat ‘your brother’ (formally, lit. ‘the gentleman’s brother’), 2 nouns in the direct object position
Twój brat ‘your brother’ (informally) in the direct object position, pronoun agreement (accusative)
Direct object in negative sentences (masc. inanimate nouns – genitive) – nie mialam czasu ‘I didn’t have the time’ (f)
Verbs ending in -ac in the past (vowel alternation a:e) zamknac okno, drzwi ‘to close, lock the window, the door’
Adjectives: ciemne (n) ‘dark’, jasne (n) ‘light’
Adverbs: zimno ‘cold’, ciemno ‘dark’
Aspect - introduction to imperfective and perfective verbs in the past
Robic / zrobic ‘to do’, budowac/ zbudowac ‘to bulid’
Demonstrative pronoun: sam (m. sg), sama (f, sg), same (f. pl), sami (masc & mixed pl) ‘alone, by oneself’
Skanowac / zeskanowac ‘to scan’ (helping e)
Konczyc / skonczyc ‘to finish, to end’, rozumiec/ zrozumiec ‘to understand’
Uczyc sie / nauczyc sie jezyka polskiego ‘to learn (of) Polish language’ (direct object in genitive)
Verbs of motion – aspect, past tense: isc / pójsc ‘to go (on foot)’
Questions with dokad ‘where to’
Direction: isc/ pójsc do teatru ‘go to the theatre’, do restauracji ‘to the restaurant’ (do + genitive)
Dawac/ dac ‘to give’
Questions with komu ‘to whom’
Sprzedawac / sprzedac ‘to sell’
Possessive pronoun swój ‘one’s own’
Mówic / powiedziec ‘to speak’
Personal pronouns in the indirect object position: mi ‘to me’, nam ‘to us’, wam ‘to you (pl)’ (dative)
Numerals: kilka ‘(a) few’, kilkanascie ‘a number of, 11-19’ (kilka, kilkanascie, wiele + genitive pl)
Questions with ile ‘how many’
Future compound – imperfective verbs only, 2 ways of forming: ‘will be’ + infinitive, ‘will be’ + participle (with past forms)
Adjectives: bogaty ‘rich’
Chyba, ze ‘unless’
Present tense – imperfective verbs only, revision: -m, -e – key sounds for the I form in the present tense)
Jest ‘there is’ (jest + nom sg); sa ‘there are’( sa + nom pl)
Nie ma ‘there isn’t’ (lit. ‘not has’ + genitive sg); nie ma ‘there aren’t’ (lit. ‘not has’ + genitive pl)
Short verbs: pic ‘to drink’, czuc (sie) ‘to feel (oneself)’
Adjectives: comparative & superlative forms: dobry – lepszy – najlepszy ‘good – better – best’
Adverbs: comparative & superlative forms: dobrze – lepiej – najlepiej ‘well – better – best’
-ura in Polish ‘ure’ in English kultura, literatura, struktura, procedura ‘culture, literature, structure, procedure
Expressing ‘of’ in Polish: struktura jezyka ‘structure of a/the language’ (genitive)
Dziekuje, ze to zrobiles/ zrobilas ‘thank that you have done this’ = ‘thank you (infm) for doing this’
Verb ‘to see’ widziec in the present tense
Personal pronoun ich ‘them’
Verbs of motion, direction: isc (definite/ directional)/ chodzic (indefinite/ non-directional); jechac (definite/ directional)/ jezdzic (indefinite/ non-directional)
Questions with gdzie ‘where’, dokad ‘to where’, skad ‘where from’
Direction: do domu ‘home’ (lit. ‘to the house’), do pracy ‘to work’, do Polski ‘to Poland’ (do + genitive)
Z Polski (Polska – feminine) ‘from Poland’ (z’+ genitive)
Expressing ‘by’ in Polish: samochodem ‘by car’ (instrumental)
Question with jak dlugo ‘how long’; na jak dlugo ‘for how long’
Habitual verbs: bywac ‘to frequent’, pisywac ‘to write habitually’
Location: w Polsce ‘in Poland’, w Londynie ‘in London’ (w + locative)
Wieczorem ‘in the evening’ (instrumental sg), wieczorami ‘in the evenings’ (instrumental pl)
3 verbs for ‘to know’ in Polish – wiedziec ‘to know a fact’, umiec ‘ to know how to’, znac ‘ to know somebody or something’
Masculine nouns ending in -a: poeta ‘poet’, kolega ‘colleague’
Kilku, wielu poetów, kolegów ‘(a) few, many poets, colleagues’ (kilku, wielu + genitive pl)
Questions with ilu ‘how many’ (for masculine personal nouns and mixed group personal nouns)
Verbal nouns (all neuter): czytanie ‘reading’; mieszkanie ‘flat/ apartament’; widzenie ‘seeing (vision)’, do widzenia – ‘good bye (till seeing)’ (do + genitive)
Future simple - perfective verbs only, the same endings as in the present tense but added to perfective forms
Prosic / poprosic ‘to ask, to request’; poprosze kawe/ herbate ‘coffee, tea, please’
Z mlekiem ‘with milk’(n), z cukrem ‘with sugar’ (m), z cytryna ‘with lemon’ (f) (z + instrumental)
Pisac / napisac ‘to write’
Imperative – formal & informal forms
Kupowac / kupic ‘to buy’
Imperative – formal & informal forms
Conditional: particle –by added to forms of 3 person sg & pl of the past tense, before personal endings: -m, -s, my, cie; kupilbym (m), kupilabym (f) ‘I would buy, I would have bought’; chcialbym (m), chcialabym (f) ‘I would like, I would have liked’ (lit. ‘I would want’)
O której godzinie ‘at what time’ (lit. ‘at which hour’) (o + locative)
chcial/a/bym, zebys jej powiedzial/a: moveable endings
Gdyby ‘counterfactual if’ gdybym wiedzial/a ‘if I had known’ (but I didn’t)
Conclusion & advice on watching Polish TV online (and reading the subtitles)

About the Author(s):

Jolanta Cecula taught Polish at Kings College London and is an Affiliate of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.

Readership:
Self-access course for adult false beginners and improvers

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