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 Back to: FSI Courses  -   Beginning Polish 

Contents of Beginning Polish

MAP OF POLAND front
   
PREFACE vii
   
INTRODUCTION xv
   
LESSON ONE 1
Spelling
Pronunciation:    1. Voiced to voiceless assimilation   2. Hard and soft consonants contrasted   3. Nasal vowels   4. ej replaced by ij   5. Word stress  
Grammar:    1. Nouns   2. Pronouns to, co   3. Singular and plural forms of the verb 'to be'   4. Singular and plural nouns   5. Demonstrative sentences   6. Negative particle nie   7. Questions   8. Interrogative particle czy   9. Negative particles ani . . . , ani   10. Conjunction a   11. Jak się pan (pani) ma? 'How are you?'  
   
LESSON TWO 19
Pronunciation:    1. ź ś ć dź   2. sz ż / rz cz dż   3. ź ś ć dź contrasted with sz ż / rz cz dż   4. ł   5. w rz after voiceless consonants   6. ń replaced by [j]   7. -aj pronounced -ej
Grammar:    1. Adverbs   2. Sentences indicating presence and absence   3. Case: nominative and genitive   4. Possessive adjectives   5. Number and gender   6. Inflection. Stems and endings   7. Feminine, neuter, and masculine nouns   8. Possessives pański, pana, and pani   9. Word order   10. Forms of address. Vocative   11. Polish first names
   
LESSON THREE 39
Pronunciation:    1. y/i   2. Nasal vowels   3. trz tsz drz   4. cz and czsz (spelled trz tsz dsz) contrasted
Grammar:    1. Verbs: 1st and 3d person singular   2. Particle się   3. New nouns   4. Accusative   5. Genitive for accusative after negated verbs   6. Accusative and genitive of pan, pani   7. Prepositions na and o + accusative   8. 'You' in Polish   9. 3d person pronoun. Demonstrative adjectives   10. Negative pronoun nic   11. Subordinate clauses
   
LESSON FOUR 52
Pronunciation:    1. p t k word initially   2. 1   3. szcz żdż contrasted with ść źdź   4. Assimilation as to voice across word boundary   5. nk pronounced [ŋ]k
Grammar:    1. New nouns   2. New adjectives   3. Accusative of adjectives   4. Possessives jego, jej   5. Reflexive possessive swój   6. Color identification   7. boli 'it hurts' and bolą 'they hurt'   8. ja (nom. )and mnie (acc.)   9. Neuter forms of the 3d person pronoun and demonstrative adjective
   
LESSON FIVE 67
Pronunciation:    1. pronounced   2. szcz and szć contrasted   3. Single and geminate consonants contrasted   4. Warsaw vs. Cracow pronunciation of word-final nonsonants
Grammar:    1. Personal pronouns kto, nikt, ja, my   2. Verbs: Plural   3. Plural forms panowie, panie, państwo. 'You (pl.)'   4. Last names   5. acc. = gen. vs. acc. not= gen.   6. Nom.and acc.pl. forms referring to male persons   7. Adverbs
   
LESSON SIX 79
Pronunciation:    1. Vowel + n or m pronounced as nasal vowel   2. j after consonants   3. ł between consonants   4.ng pronounced [ŋ]g   5. n pronounced ń before ć dź ń   6. uczennica 'pupil (f)'
Grammar:    1. Singular and plural number of nouns   2. Noun declensions   3. Inanimate, animal, and virile nouns   4. Declensional endings   5. co to za + noun   6. Indefinite particle   7. Negative adjective żaden   8. należy 'belongs'
   
LESSON SEVEN 96
Pronunciation:    1. strz, stsz   2. strz stsz contrasted with szcz   3. p t k as the first member in initial clusters of two consonants   4. b d g as the first member in initial clusters of two consonants   5. c cz ć as the first member in initial clusters of two consonants   6. dz dż dź as the first member in initial clusters of two consonants
Grammar:    1. Polite commands   2. Verbal aspect   3. Virile vs. nonvirile nouns   4. Virile vs. nonvirile gender   5. Virile nouns of Declension I   6. C~C1 alternations in nom. pl.   7. The verb 'to be'   8. Irregularities in the shape of noun stems   9. Irregularities in the selection of declensional endings   10. Adjectives functioning as nouns   11. Sex signalization   12. Polish equivalents of'man', 'woman'   13. kolega and koleżanka   14. przyjaciel and przyjaciółka   15. panna   16. Quantifying adverbs with the genitive
   
LESSON EIGHT 117
Pronunciation:    1. Stress of nouns in -yk/-ik-   2. Unstressed monosyllables   3. sz ś h/ch as the first member in initial clusters of two consonants   4. sz and ś in initial clusters contrasted   5. ch and ś in initial clusters contrasted
Grammar:    1. 2d person pronouns and verb forms   2. Short and long forms of personal pronouns   3. Forms of the 3d person pronoun after prepositions   4. Reflexive personal pronoun   5. Emphatic pronominal adjective sam   6. Summary of personal and possessive words   7. Present tense. Conjugations I, II, III   8. Reflexive particle się   9. Assignment of verbs to conjugations   10. Irregular presents   11. Verbs with the genitive object   12. Transitive and intransitive verbs   13. Prepositions with the genitive object   14. lekcja + genitive
   
LESSON NINE 137
Pronunciation:    1. Initial clusters of two or more consonants beginning with a sonant   2. Initial clusters of three or four consonants beginning with a stop + r   3. Initial clusters of three or four consonants with a spirant as the second member
Grammar:    1. Formation of adverbs   2. Subjectless constructions with jest (nie jest)   3. Dative   4. Verbs with the genitive object   5. za plus adjectives and adverbs   6. po plus dat. sg. nonfem. or plus the -u form of adjectives
   
LESSON TEN 153
Pronunciation:    1. ę ą before ł l   2. Consonant + ł word finally   3. Stress in 1st and 2d pl. past-tense forms
Grammar:    1. Past tense: endings   2. Past tense: stems   3. Movable person suffixes in past tense   4. Particle że with movable person suffixes   5. Infinitive   6. Sound alternations in past tense and infinitive   7. Past-tense forms of address   8. Tenses of the verb być 'to be'   9. Omission of jest and   10. Past tense of subjectless constructions   11. Past and future of nie ma 'there isn't'   12. Preposition u with the genitive  
   
LESSON ELEVEN 171
Pronunciation:    1. Stress in individual words and phrases   2. Vowel-less prepositions as members of initial clusters   3. Pronunciation of abbreviations  
Grammar:    1. Locative   2. Vocalic form of prepositions ending in a consonant   3. Prepositions w and na denoting location   4. Seasons in "time when"expressions   5. Position of adjectives in a sentence   6. Types of subjectless constructions  
   
LESSON TWELVE 189
Pronunciation:    1. Stress irregularities   2. Preposition z as first member of initial clusters   3. Vocalic form of preposition z  
Grammar:    1. Instrumental: endings   2. Instrumental: functions   3. Expressions of the type my z bratem 'my brother and I'   4. The Polish verbs 'to go'   5. Last names of women   6. Feminine nouns in -ni 7. pożyczyć 'to loan'  
   
LESSON THIRTEEN 205
Pronunciation:    1. Sequences of vowels   2. Final clusters ending in a sonant  
Grammar:    1. Motion vs. place of rest in prepositional phrases   2. Prepositions z + gen. and z + instr.   3. Prepositions po + acc. and po + loc.   4. Preposition za + acc.   5. Preposition między + instr. and wśród + gen.   6. Prepositions przez and w in time expressions   7. Neuter nouns in   8. Neuter nouns in -um   9. Stem alternation in tydzień 'week'   10. ę~ą in gen. pl. of święto 'holiday'   11. Animal nouns denoting inanimate objects   12. Collective nouns in -stwo   13. Past tense of the verb iść 'go (on foot)'   14. Street and house number addresses  
   
LESSON FOURTEEN 225
Pronunciation:    1. piętnaście '15', dziewiętnaście '19'   2. pięćdziesiąt '50', sześćdziesiąt '60', dziewięćdziesiąt '90'   3. parę 'several'   4. set '100'   5. sześćset '600'   6. pierwszy 'first'  
Grammar:    1. Accusative of quantification   2. Numeral adjective: jeden '!'   3. Plain numerals: dwa '2; trzy '3', cztery '4', oba 'both'   4. Plain numerals of the pięć '5' type   5. Numeral nouns: tysiąc 'thousand', etc.   6. Collective numerals   7. Quantifiers in subject-predicate or subjectless constructions   8. Complex numerals   9. Nouns derived from quantifiers   10. Ordinals   11. Irregularities in noun inflection   12. Predicative form of the nom. sg. masc. in some adjectives  
   
LESSON FIFTEEN 253
Grammar:    1. Perfective vs. imperfective aspects   2. Tense-aspect correlations   3. Aspects of simple verbs and of compounds of simple verbs   4. Pairs of simple imperfective and compound perfective verbs   5. Pairs of compound perfective and compound imperfective verbs   6. Compound perfective verbs without simple verbs   7. Pairs of perfective and imperfective simple verbs   8. Different verbs paired according to meaning and aspect   9. Unpaired simple imperfective verbs   10. Synopsis of aspect pairs   11. Use of aspects   12. Alternations between past-tense and present-tense stems in Conjugation I   13. Irregular presents   14. Multiple negation  
   
LESSON SIXTEEN 269
Grammar:    1. Pairs of simple imperfective and compound perfective verbs   2. Pairs of compound perfective and compound imperfective verbs   3. Pairs of perfective and imperfective simple verbs   4. Different verbs paired according to meaning and aspect   5. Perfective verbs with preverb po- 'to a limited degree'   6. Motion vs. rest in verbs   7. Alternations between past-tense and present-tense stems   8. Other alternations in verb inflection   9. Irregular presents   10. Vocalic form of preverbs ending in a consonant   11. Restrictions in the occurrence of enclitics   12. Functions of the dative sobie   13. Telling time by the clock  
   
LESSON SEVENTEEN 285
Grammar:    1. Conditional   2. Sentences containing a condition   3. Types of sentences containing a condition   4. Expressions denoting obligation or necessity   5. sam 'alone' in subjectless constructions   6. przyjść 'to come, arrive'  
   
LESSON EIGHTEEN 296
Grammar:    1. Consonantal verbs   2. Verbs of motion. Determined and nondetermined aspects   3. Pairs of simple determined and compound perfective verbs of motion   4. Pairs of compound perfective and compound imperfective verbs of motion   5. Special meanings of verbs of motion   6. Irregularities in aspect   7. zamiast 'instead of'   8. zanim 'before', dopóki 'while, as long as', dopóki nie 'until', 'till, as much as'   9. którędy 'which way', tędy 'this way', tamtędy 'that way'   10. Telling time on formal occasions   11. ciekawy 'curious, interesting'  
   
LESSON NINETEEN 313
Grammar:    1. Preverbs with verbs of motion   2. Special meanings of verbs of motion   3. Spelling of the preverb z-   4. Vocalic form of preverbs ending in a consonant   5. Verbs in a consonant and n or m   6. siąść 'sit' and its compounds   7. Short variants of possessive adjectives   8. piętro 'floor, story' and parter 'first (ground) floor'   9. Indicating regular intervals   10. Expressions o mało (co) nie and ledwie plus a verb  
   
LESSON TWENTY 329
Grammar:    1. Actual and frequentative aspects   2. Verbs in r   3. Adverbs containing the roots k-, j-, t -, wsz-   4. Indefinite particle s   5. Imperative: formation   6. Imperative: functions   7. Imperative: aspect   8. Preposition o + acc. in requests   9. Irregular presents: zapomnę 'I'll forget'  
   
LESSON TWENTY ONE 344
Grammar:    1. Comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs   2. Suffix -utk-   3. Comparison of items in a sentence   4. Comparative used when no comparison is involved   5. im + comparative, tym + comparative   6. coraz + comparative   7. Superlative with z + gen.   8. jak with superlative   9. 'as much as', zaledwie 'as little as'  
   
LESSON TWENTY TWO 360
Grammar:    1. Relative clauses   2. Nonfinite forms of the Polish verb   3. Present gerund and present participle   4. Past gerund   5. Passive participle and verbal noun   6. Passive participles in passive constructions   7. Passive participles used adverbially in subject-less constructions   8. Dates   9. Irregularities in the shape of noun stems   10. Polish family names in -o  
   
LESSON TWENTY THREE 379
Grammar:    1. Subordinate clauses introduced by żeby 'in order, so that'   2. Direct vs. reported speech   3. Verbs governing an infinitive or a subordinate clause   4. Subjectless expressions of the type nie ma co robić   5. Vocative   6. Nom. pl. of virile nouns in alternating consonants
   
LESSON TWENTY FOUR 396
Grammar:    1. Some rules of capitalization   2. Classification of verb stems and review of verb stem alternations  
   
LESSON TWENTY FIVE 420
Grammar:    1. Irregularities in the shape of nouns: ksiądz 'priest'   2. Irregularities in the selection of declensional endings   3. Review of compound perfective-compound imperfective aspect pairs  
   
POLISH-ENGLISH GLOSSARY 439
   
POLITICAL AND LITERARY FIGURES MENTIONED 491