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Words that changed gender at the border. Every one of them makes your adjectives wrong, quietly, forever.
ból
noun · masculine
- EN
- pain
- RU
- боль (ж. р.)
Mam silny ból głowy.
I have a bad headache.
Masculine in Polish, feminine in Russian. So silny ból, never silna — and the error survives years of otherwise good Polish.
cień
noun · masculine
- EN
- shadow, shade
- RU
- тень (ж. р.)
Usiądźmy w cieniu.
Let's sit in the shade.
Masculine here, feminine there. Długi cień, not długa.
gęś
noun · feminine
- EN
- goose
- RU
- гусь (м. р.)
Na święta piecze się gęś.
A goose is roasted for the holidays.
The mirror case: feminine in Polish, masculine in Russian. The soft ending is doing the same work in both languages and landing on opposite sides.
problem
noun · masculine
- EN
- problem
- RU
- проблема (ж. р.)
To jest poważny problem.
That's a serious problem.
Polish took the Latin ending, Russian added -а. Poważny problem, never poważna.
system
noun · masculine
- EN
- system
- RU
- система (ж. р.)
Cały system nie działa.
The whole system is down.
Same pattern as problem, and the same silent error. A whole family of Latin borrowings splits this way.
metoda
noun · feminine
- EN
- method
- RU
- метод (м. р.)
To sprawdzona metoda.
That's a proven method.
And now it runs the other way. Knowing that the two languages disagree is worth more than memorising which way round any single word goes.
temat
noun · masculine
- EN
- topic, subject
- RU
- тема (ж. р.)
Zmieńmy temat.
Let's change the subject.
Masculine. Also the everyday phrase w temacie — on the subject of — which sounds like Russian and is built differently.
klasa
noun · feminine
- EN
- class
- RU
- класс (м. р.)
Chodzi do trzeciej klasy.
She's in the third year.
Feminine in Polish, masculine in Russian — so the ordinal has to agree: trzecia klasa.
kontrola
noun · feminine
- EN
- check, inspection; control
- RU
- контроль (м. р.)
Kontrola biletów w tramwaju.
Ticket inspection on the tram.
Feminine. And the everyday sense is an inspection rather than control in the abstract — the person doing it is a kontroler.
podpis
noun · masculine
- EN
- signature
- RU
- подпись (ж. р.)
Brakuje twojego podpisu.
Your signature is missing.
Masculine, from podpisać. Russian built the same word with a soft sign and made it feminine — the shared root guarantees the mistake.
Drill these ten · earlier morning · later morning
Drill these ten