How You Say?

Ale Mu/Jej/Im Się Udało

English Phonemes: “AH-leh moo yehy eem shyeh oo-DAH-woh”

Literal Translation: How to him/her/them itself it did succeed.

Elegant Translation: How did that work out for him/her/them.

English Equivalent: Well, that worked out!

Bouncing off of last week’s episode, this is a good phrase for you to describe something working out for someone in the past. It could be applied to a recent event or something long past.

Fun Reminder: The verb “uda” is very seldom seen not in the 3rd person singular form. It’s mostly used, in fact, in this type of context. If I want to say “I succeeded” at something, that thought is usually constructed in the form of “it succeeded for me”, which is kind of neat for those of us who subconsciously respond to having a hint of Destiny’s hand in our various doings.

I also wanted to present you with options for people for whom something worked out. So below, you’ll have a write up of how to say this for “him”, “her”, and “them”. (Hopefully you remember from last week’s episode that “me” would just be “mi” in Polish.)

Enjoy!

Ale = how, but [depending on intonation]
Mu = (to) him [slang, shortened from ‘jemu’, the obj. form of ‘on’ = he]
Jej = (to) her [obj. form of ‘ona’ = she]
Im = (to) them [obj. form of ‘oni’ = they]
Się = itself [reflective helper word]
Udało = it succeeded [past tense, 3rd p. singular]

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Może Mi Się Uda

English Phonemes: “MOH-[ż]eh mee shyeh OO-dah”

Literal Translation: Maybe to me itself it will succeed. 

Elegant Translation: Maybe it will succeed for me.

English Equivalent: I hope this works!

This is a phrase I use often. When I’m attempting to do something, big or small, with no guarantee of success, sometimes I mutter this under my breath the same way we might say “you never know” or “let’s see if this works” or “here goes nothing” or “I hope this works” in English. 

It’s a nifty little hopeful phrase. Enjoy!

Może = maybe
Mi = (to) me [singular obj. form]
Się = himself/herself/itself [reflective helper word]
Uda = it will succeed [future tense 3rd p. singular]

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To ostatni dzwonek.

English Phonemes: “toh ohs-TAHT-nee DZWOH-nehk”

Literal Translation: This last little bell.

Elegant Translation: This is the final little bell.

English Equivalent: Last call!

This phrase is the Polish way to say it’s the last chance to do something. “Final warning”, “last call”, and “last chance” are all valid equivalents. You can also remove the “to” part altogether and still maintain the meaning. 

To = this
Ostatni = last [adj. masc. s., subj. form]
Dzwonek = bell [diminutive of noun, masc. s., subj. form]

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Gdzies tu sie kręci.

English Phonemes: “gjyehsh tooh shyeh KR[Ę]-chee”

Literal Translation: Somewhere here itself it is spinning.

Elegant Translation: He/she/it is spinning around here somewhere.

English Equivalent: [XYZ] is/are floating around here somewhere.

Whether you’ve temporarily lost track of a friend at a party, or you can’t find some object you just saw a moment ago, this is the phrase for you!

Gdzieś = somewhere
Tu = here
Się = himself/herself/itself [reflective helper word]
Kręci = he/she/it is spinning/turning [verb, 3rd p. s.]

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Same dobre!

English Phonemes: “SAH-meh DOH-breh”

Literal Translation: Only good.

Elegant Translation: All good. 

English Equivalent: Only the good stuff.

This phrase can refer to something being decadent, as in, a top-shelf experience; or it can mean that it’s the healthiest, best-for-you option. It usually refers to food. 

One thing I didn’t highlight in the recording is that the adjectives can be singular OR plural. It’s ambiguous by design so you can refer to one or many wonderful things. 

Same = only, alone [adj. s. (neutral gender) or pl.]
Dobre = good [adj. s. (neutral gender) or pl.]

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Zjeżdżaj z tąd!

English Phonemes: “ZYEH[Ż]-d[ż]ahy s t[ą]t”

Literal Translation: Slide down from of here!

Elegant Translation: Slide down away from here!

English Equivalent: Get out of here!

Another charming way to tell someone to beat it! We figured that in the era of social distancing, if you find yourself in Polish-speaking company with someone who isn’t respecting your safety boundaries, you now have a fun way to do something about it. 

Stay safe, everyone!

Zjeżdżaj = slide down [imperative singular informal]
Z = from [preposition]
Tąd = of here [prepositional obj. form of ‘tu’ (the Polish word ‘here’)]

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Ogólnie rzecz biorąc...

English Phonemes: “oh-GOOL-nyeh [rz]eh[cz] BYOH-r[ą]c”

Literal Translation: Generally thing taking...

Elegant Translation: Generally taking a thing...

English Equivalent: Overall. Generally speaking. In general.

This is a great and useful phrase to have in your back pocket. You can use it as an answer to a question or as part of a bigger sentence. Same as one would use “generally speaking” in English.

Ogólnie = generally [adv.]
Rzecz = thing [noun, s. obj. form]
Biorąc = taking [as in, while in the processing of someone taking something]

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To temat rzeka!

English Phonemes: “toh TEH-maht [Ż]EH-kah”

Literal Translation: This topic river.

Elegant Translation: This is a topic like a river.

English Equivalent: It’s a long story.

This phrase is used the same way “it’s a long story” is in English. It’s falling out of use, but people still know what it means. It’s a good simile, meant to evoke the feeling of a long and wide and ever-flowing river, which would take a very long time to see every bit of and completely understand.

Sidebar grammar note:
It’s important to highlight that the word “to” is a noun and not an adjective. If it were acting as an adjective, and we were saying “this topic” as a married pair of words, we’d need the Polish word “ten”. 

So. Adjective “this” vs. noun “this”.

We actually have the same behaviors in English. The English words “this” and “that” can be used as adjectives (eg. this burrito - specifying a particular and close-by instance of a burrito) or nouns (eg. I want this (pointing at something nearby), or “this is what I’m saying” (referencing something abstract that has been established before)).

So the idea is exactly the same. It’s just that in Polish, we have different versions for adjective “this” and noun “this”. 

I mention this because it means that the literal translation as ”this topic” is actually inaccurate. It’s more like “this is a topic” where “is” and “a” are understood. 

I’m laughing out loud as I type this for you. The topic of this little three-word phrase is like a river! Yay irony!

To = this [noun, subj. form]
Temat = topic [noun. s. subj. form]
Rzeka = river [noun. s. subj. form]

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O mały włos! 

English Phonemes: “oh MAH-wih vwohs”
Literal Translation: By little hair.
Elegant Translation: By a tiny hair.
English Equivalent: By the skin of their teeth.

This phrase is used to describe something as a close call, either in the good or bad sense. The English phrase “by the skin of one’s teeth” is a very close equivalent, though it usually has a connotation to a negative event — which someone narrowly avoided, or scraped by “by the skin of their teeth”. But “o mały włos” can be associated with both positive and negative events.

Fun Fact: Google translates this as phrase as “for little hair” which is a totally fair word-for-word translation, but it didn’t choose the correct preposition definition and so the meaning is completely obscured. Aren’t languages fun?

O = by, about, of, for, concerning, against, over [preposition]
Mały = little, tiny [adj., s. masc. obj. form]
Włos = hair [noun, s. masc. obj. form]

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Czasami!

English Phonemes: “[cz]ah-SAH-mee”
Literal Translation: Sometimes.

Short lesson this week!
Spring-boarding off of last week’s episode, this word shares a common root with the word “czas” (time).

You can use this the same way as you use “sometimes” in English. Yay!

Czasami = sometimes, at times

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