Dana Bielec - Basic Polish: A Grammar and Workbook

BASIC POLISH

Basic Polish presents concise explanations of grammar with related exercises, to build confidence in using the modern language.

Assuming no previous knowledge of Polish, the books step-by-step approach guarantees a thorough grounding in the basics of grammar. Each of the forty units introduces particular grammar points. Clear and concise explanations are supported by a wide range of examples and exercises to allow students to practise and consolidate their learning. Later units also reinforce material taught in earlier ones.

Key features include:

clear, accessible format

many useful language examples

jargon-free explanations of grammar

abundant exercises with a full answer key

notes on the Polish alphabet, pronunciation and stress

PolishEnglish vocabulary

subject index.

This second edition has been revised to include updated examples and explanations. It also offers five new appendices containing a comprehensive summary of grammar functions, guidance on studying an inflected language, and helpful information on question words, the important verbs by and mie and perfective and imperfective verb aspects.

Written by an experienced language teacher and author, Basic Polish is the ideal introduction to the structures and expressions most widely used in spoken and written Polish. It is suitable for both independent use and classroom study.

Dana Bielec is the author of the popular Polish: An Essential Grammar and Intermediate Polish: A Grammar and Workbook, both published by Routledge.

Other titles available in the Grammar Workbooks series are:

Basic Arabic

Basic Cantonese
Intermediate Cantonese

Basic Chinese
Intermediate Chinese

Basic German
Intermediate German

Basic Irish
Intermediate Irish

Basic Italian

Basic Japanese
Intermediate Japanese

Basic Korean
Intermediate Korean

Basic Persian
Intermediate Persian

Basic Polish
Intermediate Polish

Basic Russian
Intermediate Russian

Basic Spanish
Intermediate Spanish

Basic Welsh
Intermediate Welsh

Basic Yiddish

Titles of related interest published by Routledge

Polish: An Essential Grammar by Dana Bielec
Polish: A Comprehensive Grammar by Iwona Sadowska

BASIC POLISH: A GRAMMAR AND WORKBOOK

2nd edition

Dana Bielec

First published 2002 by Routledge

This second edition published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2002, 2015 Dana Bielec

The right of Dana Bielec to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bielec, Dana, 1948
Basic Polish : a grammar and workbook / Dana Bielec. Second edition.
pages cm. (Grammar workbooks Series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Polish languageTextbooks for foreign speakersEnglish. 2. Polish
languageGrammar. I. Title.
PG6112.B26 2014
491.8582421dc23
2014011036

ISBN: 978-0-415-72602-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-72601-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75452-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Times Ten
by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong

To John Moule, my wonderful best friend and constant encourager, who patted the rabbits and dreamed up the treats.

CONTENTS

This grammar workbook is designed for English speakers. It assumes no previous knowledge of Polish and so covers, in its vocabulary and grammar, the most important areas of Polish social and cultural experience. You will easily learn the language structures and expressions most widely used in spoken and written Polish. On completion, armed only with a good basic dictionary, you will communicate effectively in the present tense with Polish speakers.

Polish is difficult for those not familiar with inflected languages. The exercises accompanying each grammar unit progress from simple to more complex. They are designed so that they can be completed successfully with a good grasp of the inherent grammar points. Each unit presents new material but also strongly reinforces that taught in previous units. Therefore, you are advised to complete Units 1 to 4, then revise Units 1 and 2; complete Units 5 and 6, revise Units 3 and 4, and so forth. By doing so, you will gain most from the cumulative and structured teaching methods applied in this book. You will build a solid foundation of basic Polish, which can later be extended. Above all, by allowing time for revision, you will grow in confidence and, unhampered by incomplete learning, actually absorb new information more easily and more rapidly.

This book has no accompanying tape recordings. There are, however, enough examples of current usage in each unit for you to record them for use at your leisure. Perfect pronunciation is not critical. You will benefit immensely from hearing yourself in your own voice repeating the examples. To master the pronunciation of a language you must listen and repeat. Your pronunciation will, thereby, become sufficiently good for you to enjoy speaking the language; enjoyment itself will lead to further improvement.

A word of caution. Regional variations in vowel sounds exist in all languages, so you may not immediately understand every inhabitant of a small village or a person from the mountains. However, they will understand you and usually adapt their regional sounds to reflect standard pronunciation.

(Always use the latest published edition.)

Dana Bielec, Polish: An Essential Grammar, and Intermediate Polish: A Grammar and Workbook, both published by Routledge.

Klara Janecki, 301 Polish Verbs (Barrons Educational Series, New York). This lists the most useful verbs alphabetically, giving their imperfective and perfective aspects, in all their tenses.

4-volume EnglishPolish: PolishEnglish Dictionary (2 volumes each way) published by Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw.

When choosing a dictionary, ensure that it gives the kind of information needed by English students of Polish, i.e. pronunciation of the Polish word, genitive singular (difficult to predict in masculine nouns) and an indication of whether a verb is perfective or imperfective. If not, the dictionary is aimed at Polish students of English. Consider:

Size. An adequate dictionary lists around 45,000 words. Smaller ones not only list fewer words but are also more likely to list only the most common meanings of a word. Take several dictionaries of different size, look up some common English words and then cross-check by looking up each given Polish word. How much information is given? Does it make sense?