Colors II

Here’s the second group of colors, again with memory tips and derivations.
 
yellow / żółty / žlutý / žltá
orange / pomarańczowy / oranžový / oranžová
pink / różowy / řůžový / ružová
purple / fioletowy / nachový / nachová
brown / brązowy / hnědý / hnedá
 
yellow:  same source as green, namely ghel- (bright, shining, yellow).  Try thinking of “gelled jello” to get to Czech/Slovak zh(uh)ltee/a.
orange:  means oranges.  think of an orange pomegranite for Polish.
pink:  is like a rose – or maybe a rozhe
purple escapes my understanding
brown:  Polish is “brown-zowie!”  (bran-zovee).  You’re on your own for Czech and Slovak.

Colors I

We’re breaking up the colors into two bunches. Here’s the first group, along with some derivations and memory hints.

black / czarny / černý / čierna
white / biały / bílý / biela
red / czerwony / červený / červená
blue / niebieski / modrý / modrá
green / zielony / zelený / zelená

black: think charred and charnel
white: probably from IE bhel-, shine; think lily-white/bily-white
blue: the Polish means sky-colored, same source as nebula; modr- seems to be from the same source as madder, an herb from which a dark blue dye is made
green: from IE ghel-, yellow(ish). Green isn’t yellow! It’s melony zellow!
red: comes from the word for worm. We thought it referred to the carbuncle (ruby-like object) formed on the skin where a worm has burrowed in. Vermillion (like vermicelli, little worms) followed this path. But a reader tells us:

The word does come from "worm" (czerw), but that's because the worm (called kermes in English) was the source for red dye for centuries in Eastern Europe. It's similar to the cochineal insect in the Americas, which also yields a red dye. The grubs were gathered in June, and they gave the name for the month of June in Polish (Czerwiec).

Thanks to J. Armata for the information.

Sites and sights to see

English / Polish / Czech / Slovak
castle / zamek / zámek / zámok
cathedral / katedra / katedrála / katedrála
church / kościół / kostel / kostol
monastery / klasztor / klášter / kláštor
monument / pomnik / pomnik / pamätníkpalace /pałac / palác / palác

A few of these, at least, should look pretty familiar.  For the most part they’re imports.  Just to help out a little:

The words for “cathedral” are pretty obvious.
The words for “church” are like “hostel.”
The words for “monastery” are like “cloister.”
The words for “palace” should be obvious.

Slavic family

The following list of kinship terms will help you easily connect the Slavic language terms while showing how the terms have in some cases spread out across Indo-European and in others have not.

English / Polish / Czech / Slovak / Dutch / Latin
wife / żona / manželka / manželka / vrouw / uxor
husband / mąż / manžel / manžel / man /
mother / matka / matka / matka / moeder / mater
father / ojciec / otec / otec / vader / pater
daughter / córka / dcera / dcéra / dochter / filia
son / syn / syn / syn / zoon / filius
sister / siostra / sestra / sestra / zuster / soror
brother / brat / bratr / brat / broer / frater

Looking at the table, you’ll see that matka/matka/matka/mater, syn/syn/syn/zoon, siostra/sestra/sestra and brat/bratr/brat/broer are close to one another, bringing together other IE languages and Slavic.

The word for father, ojciec/otec/otec, adheres within Slavic but looks out of place against other IE languages. This is because the Slavic languages (like the Celtic languages, incidentally), lost initial “p” in a lot of places. Probably the “ts” sound on the end arises from a front “r” getting mispronounced, as in Lat. cathedra (chair) > OFr chaire > Fr chaise.

As for daughter, the cór- of the Polish is like the Czech and Slavic, but there’s a diminuitive suffix on the end, i.e. it means “little daughter.” Because IE kinship terms are all over the map, I wouldn’t be astonished to find out this is connected to Latin soror, but I don’t have good evidence for that relationship, and have to consider “daughter” the odd-man-out in Slavic vs. IE kinship terms.

[Update: A reader points out a likelier connection to "daughter":

The word change is clearer when able to read in cyrillic with Russian and Bulgarian where there is an "o" between, making dcera 'back' to 'dochera' to align with Germanic tochter and English daughter.

Czechs seemed over the centuries to prefer a back-throat and dental sound instead of labial with some of the vowels shortening almost to disappearing and in some cases disappearing as in 'sem' for jsem.'

Thanks to our reader for the explanation. And remember, we're all langauge learners here - if you've got a tip about a language or language learning, let us know so we can make this site the best possible resource for everybody.]

Finally, as far as “husband” and “wife” are concerned, I confess total ignorance. You can see a feminine/diminuitive ending on “wife” in Czech and Slovak, which is also, helpfully, the same in the two languages. And if you’re looking for a memory device, the three Slavic terms for husband all start with the sound, “man,” which is just like the Dutch, though I’m not sure if they’re related. The Polish “żona” has the same source as queen, which in IE was something like “kona.”

How are you feeling?

Polish
Jestem głodny/ głodna. – I’m hungry. (yestem gwodn-ee/a)
Jestem spragniony/spragniona. – I’m thirsty. (sprag-nyon-ee/a)

Jest mi gorąco. – I’m hot (It’s hot to me). (yest me goran-choe)
Jest mi zimno. – I’m cold. (zeem-no)

Czech
Mám hlad. – I’m hungry (I have hunger). (mahm h-lat)
Mám žizeň. – I’m thirsty. (zhee-zenyuh)

Je mi horko. – I’m hot (It’s hot to me). (yeh me horkoe)
Je mi zima. – I’m cold. (zee-ma)

Slovak
Mám hlad. – I’m hungry (I have hunger). (mahm h-lat)
Mám smäd. – I’m thirsty. (s-mat)

Je mi teplo. – I’m hot (It’s hot to me). (yeh me te-ploe)
Je mi zima. – I’m cold. (zee-ma)

Remember to pick the right form (masculine or feminine) for Polish “I’m hungry/thirsty.” See “Feelings” for notes on that and caveats on the pronunciations.

Feelings

Polish
Jestem szczęśliwy/ szczęśliwa. – I’m happy. (yestem shchen-shleev-ee/a)
Jestem smutny/smutna. – I’m sad. (smootn-ee/a)
Jestem zmęczony/ zmęczona. – I’m tired. (zmen-choe-n-ee/a)
Jestem wdzięczny/ wdzięczna. – I’m thankful. (vuhjenchn-ee/a)

Czech
Jsem šťastný/šťastná. – I’m happy. (yuhsem shtyah-stn-ee/a)
Jsem smutný/smutná. – I’m sad. (smootn-ee/a)
Jsem unavený/unavená. – I’m tired. (unaven-ee/a)
Jsem vám vděčný/ vděčná. – I’m grateful. (vahm vuhdyechn-ee/a)

Slovak
Som šťastný/šťastná. – I’m happy. (som sh-tyah-stn-ee/a)
Som smutný/smutná. – I’m sad. (smootn-ee/a)
Som unavený/unavená. – I’m tired. (unaven-ee/a)
Som vďačný/ vďačná. – I’m grateful. (vuh-dyachn-ee/a)

You’ll notice that all these expressions take a form that readily translates “I am…” In Slavic languages, adjectives have to agree in gender and number with the noun they refer back to. Therefore, if you’re male, you use the masculine forms (ending in y/ý); if you’re female you use the feminine forms (ending in a/á).

Using the pronunciation guide is simple: Pretend you’re from the Midwest U.S. and charge through what I’ve written (complete with added syllables to get you over the consonant clusters) as resolutely as you can. We offer a 100% guarantee you won’t be mistaken for a native, but you’ve got a fair shot at being understood without having to learn what all the accent marks mean.

The student who wants a better accent will, of course, need to find a native speaker or good cassette program as some of these sounds and sound combinations don’t really exist in English and must be heard to be learned.

Western Slavic Greetings - Review

If you’ve looked at “Hello and Goodbye” and “Western Slavic Greetings” you’re ready for this page. If not, go look at them first.

Now that you’ve seen a little bit about the greetings, let’s put a few things together.

The first thing you have to focus on is that while these languages are different, there’s a lot that holds them together. Compare the following expressions, focusing not on difference in meaning but on similarities between phrases. I’m giving very rough phonetics here to highlight similarities; the phrases with proper spellings follow.

Cz. doe-bray rah-no / Slk. doe-bray rah-no
Pol. jen doe-bree / Cz. doe-bree den / Slk. doe-bree dyen
Pol. doe-bray vyechoor / Cz. doe-bray veh-chair / Slk. doe-bray veh-chair
Pol. doe-bra nots / Cz. doe-bro nots / Slk. doe-brew nots
Pol. doe vee-dze-nya / Slk. doe vee-deh-nya

You can see connections. Here they are officially spelled:
Cz. dobré ráno / Slk. dobré ráno
Pol. dzień dobry / Cz. dobrý den / Slk. dobrý deň
Pol. dobry wieczór / Cz. dobrý večer / Slk. dobrý večer
Pol. dobranoc / Cz. dobrou noc / Slk. dobrú noc
Pol. Do widzenia / Slk. Do videnia

So far, of course, you’ve seen the expressions together, but might have had to look back to remind yourself which is which. Let’s put the greetings together one more time, but in a new way that helps you relate them to each other instead of thinking of them as individual versions of English phrases:

Pol.	Cz.	Slk.
dzień dobry	dobré ráno	dobré ráno
"	dobrý den	dobrý deň
"	dobré odpoledne	"
dobry wieczór	"	"
"	dobrý večer	dobrý večer
dobranoc	dobrou noc	dobrú noc

Looking at this table, you can see how the greetings transition from one to the next and that in some cases, like the Pol. Dobry wieczór, what's at issue is not a difference in meaning but in when one goes, in effect, from saying "Good day" to "Good evening."

Now that some connections have been made and you've looked at the greetings from a couple different angles, test your learning by finishing the table below. Fill in all the blanks, repeating expressions as necessary.

Pol.	Cz.	Slk.
dzień dobry	-	dobré ráno
-	dobrý den
-	dobré odpolodne	-
dobry wieczór	-	dobrý deň
-	dobrý večer	-
dobranoc	-	dobrú noc

Check your answers against the tables above.

Finally, remind yourself of Pol. Do widzenia and Slk. Do videnia and the unrelated, hence tricky, Cz. Na shledanou

Western Slavic Greetings

More Greetings

Polish
dobr- – good

Dzień dobry (jen doe-bree) – good morning/day
Dobry wieczór (doe-bree vyeh-choor) – good afternoon/evening
Dobranoc (doe-bra-notes) – good night

Czech
dobr- – good

Dobré ráno (doe-bray rah-no) – good morning
Dobrý den (doe-bree den) – good day
Dobré odpoledne (doe-bray ot-pol-ed-nay) – good afternoon
Dobrý večer (doe-bree veh-chair) – good evening
Dobrou noc (doe-brew notes) – good night

Slovak
dobr- – good

Dobré ráno (doe-bray rah-no) – good morning
Dobrý deň (doe-bree den)– good day/afternoon
Dobrý večer (doe-bree veh-chair) – good evening
Dobrú noc (doe-brew notes) – good night

*All pronunciations very approximate

And all together, for comparison:
English / Polish / Czech / Slovak
good morning / dzień dobry / dobré ráno / dobré ráno
good day / dzień dobry / dobrý den / dobrý deň
good afternoon / dobry wieczór / dobré odpoledne / dobrý deň
good evening / dobry wieczór / dobrý večer / dobrý večer
good night / dobranoc / dobrou noc / dobrú noc

Notice the following:
dzień / den / deň – day and Sp. día - day
wieczór / večer / večer and Lat. vespera - evening
noc / noc / noc and Lat. nox - night

While they’re not immediately apparent, the connections within Indo-European aren’t entirely obscured.

When you don't speak the language...

Language issues

In this lesson, we’re going to learn a few “meaning units” and build some short phrases around them. First go through the lesson quickly so you can see the similarities between languages. Then review more carefully. Finally, do the exercise.

Polish
rozumi- (row-zoo-me-) – understand : row me to the zoo, I understand
nie (nyeh) – not : just like the yays and nays

rozumiem (roh-zoo-myem) – I understand
nie rozumiem – I don’t understand

Czech
rozumí- (row-zoo-me-) – understand
ne- (nay-) – not

rozumím (roh-zoo-meem) – I understand
nerozumím – I don’t understand

Slovak
rozumi- (row-zoo-me-) – understand
ne- (nay-) - not

rozumiem (roh-zoo-mee-ehm) – I understand
nerozumiem – I don’t understand

---

Polish
mówi- (movie) – speak : imagine talking in a movie

mówię (moo-vyeh) – I speak
mówi (moo-vee) – (you) speak
mówi (moo-vee) – (he) speaks
pan – Mr./you (to a man) / pani – Ms./you (to a woman)
pan/pani mówi – you speak

Czech
mluví- (mloo-vee) – speak : associate with Polish mówi- (movie)

mluvím (mloo-veem) – I speak
mluvíte (mloo-vee-teh) – you speak
mluví – he speaks

Slovak
hovorí- (hoe-vo-ree-) – to speak : speak only if you have a reason

hovorím (hoe-vo-reem) – I speak
hovoríte (hoe-vo-ree-tyeh) – you speak
hovorí – he speaks

---

Polish
angielsku (ang-yel-skoo) - English : like Anglo-Saxon
po angielsku (po ang-yel-skoo) – English language
czy (chee) – question word
Czy pan/pani mówi po angielsku? – Do you speak English?

Czech
anglicky (ang-lit-ski) – English
Mluvíte anglicky? – Do you speak English?

Slovak
po anglicky (po ang-lit-ski) – English language
Hovoríte po anglicky? – Do you speak English?

---

Polish
ktoś (k-towsh) – anyone / tu – here
Czy ktoś tu mówi po angielsku? – Does anyone here speak English?

Czech
někdo (nyeg-do) – anybody
Mluví někdo anglicky? – Does anybody speak English?

Slovak
niekto (nyek-toe) – anybody
Hovorí niekto po anglicky? – Does anyone speak English?

---

Now it’s time to make sure you picked up some of the above. Figure out the proper response to the following three situations in the designated language.

1. You’re walking down the street in Warsaw (Poland) and someone asks you for the time. You think. But you don’t know since you don’t speak Polish. You say, “I don’t understand.”

2. You twisted your knee while walking in Prague and people are trying to help. But you can’t explain what’s wrong. You ask, “Does anybody speak English?”

3. You got as far as “Hello” at a bar in Bratislava, but the burst of Slovak that followed was over your head. You ask, “Do you speak English?”

1. Nie rozumiem. / 2. Mluví někdo anglicky? 3. Hovoríte po anglicky?