Ciało i dolegliwości
The vocabulary you need on the one day you will be least able to look it up.
gardło
noun · neuter
- EN
- throat
- RU
- горло
Boli mnie gardło od wczoraj.
My throat has hurt since yesterday.
Boli mnie — the body part is the subject and you are in the accusative. Polish says 'the throat hurts me', exactly as Russian does.
kark
noun · masculine
- EN
- nape, back of the neck
- RU
- затылок, шея сзади
Mam sztywny kark od komputera.
My neck is stiff from the computer.
Distinct from szyja, the neck as a whole. This is the specific back of it — and the kark in mieć głowę na karku.
łydka
noun · feminine
- EN
- calf (of the leg)
- RU
- икра (ноги)
Złapał mnie skurcz w łydce.
I got a cramp in my calf.
Russian uses икра for both the muscle and fish roe. Polish keeps them apart: łydka is the leg, ikra is the roe.
kostka
noun · feminine
- EN
- ankle; cube; bar
- RU
- лодыжка; кубик
Skręciłem kostkę na schodach.
I twisted my ankle on the stairs.
The same word is an ankle, an ice cube, a sugar lump and a bar of butter. A diminutive of kość, bone, that went in four directions.
katar
noun · masculine
- EN
- a runny nose, head cold
- RU
- насморк
Mam katar i boli mnie głowa.
I've got a runny nose and a headache.
A specific symptom, not the whole illness. The illness is przeziębienie, and Poles distinguish the two carefully.
kaszel
noun · masculine
- EN
- cough
- RU
- кашель
Suchy kaszel nie daje mi spać.
A dry cough is keeping me awake.
The e drops in every case but the nominative: kaszlu, kaszlem. That vanishing vowel is a whole class of Polish nouns.
gorączka
noun · feminine
- EN
- fever, high temperature
- RU
- температура, жар
Mam gorączkę, chyba czterdzieści stopni.
I have a fever, about forty degrees.
Russian says у меня температура, using the neutral word. Polish gorączka already means a raised one — temperatura alone is just a reading on a thermometer.
skurcz
noun · masculine
- EN
- cramp, spasm
- RU
- судорога
Dostałem skurczu w nocy.
I got cramp in the night.
From kurczyć się, to contract. The same root gives kurczę, a mild exclamation that means neither cramp nor chicken.
siniak
noun · masculine
- EN
- bruise
- RU
- синяк
Mam wielkiego siniaka na kolanie.
I've got a huge bruise on my knee.
Same root and same logic as синяк — the blue thing. One of the words Slavic overlap simply hands you.
przeziębienie
noun · neuter
- EN
- a cold
- RU
- простуда
To zwykłe przeziębienie, nie grypa.
It's just a cold, not flu.
Przeziębić się is to catch one. The distinction from grypa matters in Poland, where a pharmacist will ask.
Drill these ten · earlier morning · later morning
Drill these ten