N §<0 Ssymank, Paul so Elementary Polish grammar I CO LaP.Gr S7745er I Method Gaspey-Otto-Sauer for the study of modern languages Ssymank Elementary olish Grammar Julius Groos, Heidelberg presented to £be Xibrar? of tbe Xflniversitip of Toronto bs Professor B.jsj. Shore METHOD GASPEY-OTTO-SAUER. ELEMENTARY OLISH GRAMMAR BY PROFESSOR PAUL SSYMANK, PH. D. ^ LONDON. DAVID NUTT (A. G. Berry), 212 Shaftesbury Avenue, W. C. 2. DULAU & CO., 34—36 Margaret 8treet, Cavendish Square W 1. NEW YORK: BRENTANO'S, Fifth Avenue and 27th Street. '^E INTERNATIONAL NEWS COMPANY, 83 and 85 Duane Street G. E. STECHERT A CO., 151—155 West 25th Street. E. STEIGER & CO., 49 Murray Street. BOSTON: G. REUSCHEL, 110 Tremont Street. n 8CHOENHOF BOOK COMPANY, 128 Tremont Street. J HEIDELBERG. JULIUS QROOS. 1921. The Gaspey-Otto-Sauer Method has become my sole property by right of purchase. These books are continually revised. All rights, especially those of adaptation and translation into any language, are reserved. Imitations and fraudulent impressions are forbidden by law. Suitable communications always thankfully received. Heidelberg. Julius Groos. < Ill PREFACE. Encouraged by the success of the Polish Grammar of Wladislas Paulus, of which, in 1914, I published a cor." edition in the German language, I have fulfilled me wishes of the publisher Julius Groos, who requested me to write an English edition of the book. The chief part of it was finished during the European War, in 1917, in a small village near the German front of Verdun, but the work could not be printed before the year 1920. This Elementary Polish Grammar is intended to facilitate the study of the language for beginners, and will suffice for those who wish to learn the Polish lan- guage for practical purposes and even in general for those who desire to read works of Polish literature. They who desire to reach higher aims will naturally be obliged to continue their studies by the help of a ientific grammar, of which there are some very good ones, in German, as, eg., that of Soerensen, entitled: "Polnische Grammatik in systematischer Darstellung" (Leipzig, Veriag von Haberland, 1900). By going through this Elementary Grammar, learn- ers will soon perceive that Polish can, as well as any other dead or living language, be studied and learned without the assistance of a teacher. To this end a Key of- the Exercises has been issued. At the end of this Preface I feel the obligation to thank those who have helped me in composing a good and correct text, both in English and Polish. I shall always member with thankfulness the assistance which presi- dent Dr. Legowski and his daughter. .Mrs. Wanda Cy- bichowska (at Thorn), Mr. Richard Koerth (at Bromberg), August iMr. Otto (at Preussisch-Friedland, formerlv at IV Preface. 1 Posen) and Mr. William Gr. Priest (in London) afforded me, in giving me valuable advice and in reading the proofs of the Grammar. But though all of us revised them very carefully, a certain number of errata have not been perceived in time and must therefore be col- lected in a list following the Contents. All those who employ this book in order to learn the Polish language are begged by me to inform me directly, when finding any errata or other mistakes in my Grammar, which I desire to make a work absolu- tely reliable. Goettingen, Theaterstrasse 25. December 19th 1920. Professor Paul Ssymank, Ph. D. (formerly at Posen). 1 In the English text I employ the German orthography of the names of the towns in Poland, which formerly belonged to the German Empire or to Austria, as I believe that the Polish names, which now are officially used there, are not yet to be found in the English and American maps. CONTENTS. Pago Introduction : Phonetics General Observations 1 The Tonic Accent 1 Pronunciation of Vowels 2 Pronunciation of Consonants 3 Assimilation 5 Double Letters 6 The Modern Polish Alphabet and its Phonetic Value . 7 Rules of Orthography 7 Reading Exercise 1,2 7 1st Lesson. Gender of Polish Substantives 9 Ond . 11 rd 3 ., Declension of Substantives 13 4th n Continuation 26 5th „ 27 th « •• „ 29 7th full . |f Declension of Adjectives with Termination 30 8th H The Abridged Form of Adjectives 33 9th „ Adverbs 34 10th n Degrees of Comparison 36 11th w Prepositions 39 12th „ Continuation 42 13th n Cardinal and Ordinal Xumbers 43 14th M Pronouns 48 15th M The Other Pronouns 51 16th n Aspects of the Verbs. The Auxiliary Verb bye to be 54 17th The Verb mie6 to have -59 18th The Different Classes of the Polish Verbs ... 61 19th H The Second Conjugation 65 20th >? Continuation 69 71 $1« n , 22nd M 74 23rd ,. 76 24th M Imperfective, Perfective and Iterative Verbs . 79 25tt> The Passive Voice 83 26th M Reflexive Verbs 85 27tii „ Impersonal Verbs 87 VI Contents. 28th Lesson. Conjunctions .88 29th Short Syntax- 91 f ; m 30th ., The Predicate 93 31st „ Continuation 95 32nd Subject 96 >f The Concordance of the Predicate and the 33 rd „ Transitive and Intransitive Verbs 98 34th . 99 >f Continuation 35th „ „ 101 36th „ The Cases of the Substantives 103 37th the Genitive 105 jf Verbs Governing 38th „ The Dative 107 39th „ Adjectives Governing the Dative 109 40th v Verbs Governing the Dative 110 41 st „ Of the Instrumental 113 42nd . Verbs Governing the Instrumental 115 f 43rd „ Participle and Infinitive 116 Appendix. Translation Exercises . 119 " Polish Exercises . 122 Easy Talks (Rozmowy) 132 Polish-English Vocabulary 139 Anglo-Polish Vocabulary 161 S\ VII ERRATA. The words without ( ) give the right passage, the words in ( ) the wrong one, which is to be corrected. p. 41 sentence 16: na spacer (na przechadzk§). — p. 46 words: - mendel (medel). — p. 47 sentence 2: mendel (medel). — p. 50 sen- tence 4: na spacer (na przechadzke). — p. 57 words: bojazn (bo- jazn). — p. 84 words: ziemniak (ziemiak). — p. 05 sentence 10: kloci (kloci). — p. 104 words: gozdzik (goidik). — p. 104 word-: . zaitowac (zartowad). — p. 109 Ex. 77 sent. 4: obywatelem (obywa- Stelom). — ]). Ill Conv. line first chcial (chcial). — p. 113 line 7: Z .choru (z choru). — p. 114 Exerc. 81 sentence 7: za mna (za). — p. 114 -Rozmowa: zbogaca. sie (bogaca. siej. — p. 115 words: przesiac to cease, przestac z kirn to have intercourse with one (the second signi- ^fication is wanting). — p. 117 words: stanowczy decided (decidedly). I — p. 1*2-2 line 20: narzedzia gospodarskie (gospodarski). — p. 123 .line 11: dlatego {dla tego). — p. 123 J. 18: mendle (niedle). — p. 123 J .line 25: ziemniaki (ziemiaki). — p. 125: l iesii (Piesn). — p. 144: ' konik young horse (herdsman). — p. 154: spole^zeiis'wo [spol<'tfen- stvo] (spoleczeiistwo). 2 Introduction. 3. Pronunciation of Vowels. § 3. All Polish vowels are open. § 4. There are no diphthongs in the Polish language. Each vowel expresses a syllable of its own: nauka [na'uka] the doctrine, kraina [kra'ina] the country. The only exceptions are to be found in some words of foreign origin as aureola [aun'ola] the glory, the halo. a) Pure Vowels. § 5. The phonetic value of these vowels. a) The proper sound of the open a [a] is that of a in fat. but so as to approach the phonetic value of the a in father. When written, it is expressed by a: lak flak] sealing wax; armata [ar'mata] the cannon. p) The proper sound of the open e [e] is approxi- mately that of e in met. When written, it is expressed by e: cleska ['deslca] the board, the plank; ganek [ganek] he entrance-hall, the lobby. Note 1. In books of the past century a closed e was expressed by e; nowadays there is no longer made any difference between it and the open e; but when pronounced, it sounds like the long e in there or in the German word ''lltecr", in dialects even like if as for instance chleb I'yjih] bread. t) The proper sound of the open i [i] is that of i in sick. AVhen written, it is expressed by i: interes [in tin s] business. In the beginning of words, it sounds like the German ji or the English y in yard: He ['Me] how much, how many ? b) The proper sound of the open o [o] is almost that of o in note, but without the half uttered • w, following the English vowel. When written, it is ex- pressed by o: pole [ poh] the field; polom ['polom] to ' the fields. e) The proper sound of the open u [u] is that of 00 in moon. When written, it is expressed by u and 6: bunt [hunt] the rebellion; ]><>/>< [polu] to the field; bul [bid] the pain. INTRODUCTION. PHONETICS. 1. General Observations. § 1. In most languages the common orthography corresponds but very imperfectly to the pronunciation of the different sounds. In order to indicate it quite exactly, we add a phonetic transcript to the words mentioned in the following Introduction and the Polish- English Vocabulary. For this purpose, we introduce the extensive alphabet of the "Association phonetique intern ation ale" each of which characters expresses but one and always the same sound. 2. The Tonic Accent. § 2. In our phonetic transcript, the accent ['] before a syllable shows us that it has the stress. In nearly all Polish words the tonic accent lies on the penultimate: tak ['tcikl so, thus, yes, armata [ar'mata] the cannon. The tonic accent is displaced on the antepenultimate syllable only in some foreign words, as gramatyka Ifiramatika] the grammar, muzyka ['muz'iha] music, AmeryJca [dmefilcaj America, religja [re'ligja] religion, and in the first and second persons of the plural of the past as hylUmy%['bilis mi] we were.