English translation

Hi, my name is Radek, and welcome again to the channel „Polish with Radek”, the channel that is targeted to people who learn Polish through authentic materials, such as the ones that I publish here.

In today’s film I will tell you about ten loan words from French which exist in Polish.

Polish is a Slavic language, but for centuries Poland has maintained diplomatic, political and commercial relations with Western European countries. Therefore, in Polish there are a lot of loan words from languages ​​such as: German, Latin or French. Already in the 17th century, the French were the wives of Polish kings: Maria Ludwika was the wife of Władysław IV and Jan Kazimierz, and Maria Kazimiera was the wife of Jan III Sobieski.

Nonetheless, the fashion for French in Poland was most prominent in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the elites of the Polish state were studying French as the preferred foreign tongue. Knowledge of French was in good taste… It was believed that a well-educated, prosperous person should speak this language. A bit as you would think about English today.

I divided the loan words from French, which exist in Polish, into three groups, And finally I added one more loan word which does not belong to any of these groups, but it is my favorite French word in Polish. So please watch this video to the end, to find out what this word is.

So let’s start with the first group. It consists of French expressions, which are also used in Polish. The first (such) expression is 'à propos’. Often, when we refer to a thing, we speak 'à propos’ that thing, i.e., precisely referring to this thing. This is a phrase that Poles often use.

Secondly, we also often say 'deja vu’. If we’ve already seen something or a situation is known to us, we use this French expression: 'deja vu’. We also use it as a noun. So you can hear, for example, Poles who say: „I have a deja vu”, as they’ve already seen it somewhere.

And the third expression is 'va banque’. Sometimes we say: „to play va banque”, i.e., to put a bet with everything we have. „Vabank” is also the title of a classic Polish comedy. Okay, this category went fast. Now let’s move to the next category.

The second category consists of things related to culture and art. For example, if you are watching this video, then you are watching it on 'ekran’ [screen], i.e., the external part of your TV or phone (typically made of glass), This word, 'ekran’, comes from French.
If we do something outside, we say that we do it 'na dworze’ [on the court], In Lesser Poland, people say that they are doing it 'na polu’ [in the field], but all over Poland you can also say that some events take place in 'plener’ [open air]. 'Plener’ means free air, or an open space. It is also a word from French, which is subject to declension in Polish, just like any other noun.

And finally we also have 'pejzaż’ [’landscape’]. 'Pejzaż’ is a kind of image, a kind of painting, which presents some area, some interesting, nice view, which spans from a specific point.

Another three words, another category, are things that were related to the life of the middle and upper class in the 18th & 19th century. For example, people belonging to these classes, had 'żyrandole’ [chandeliers] at home, i.e., a kind of decorative lamps attached to the ceilings.

They also often traveled. And if they traveled a lot, also abroad, they needed 'walizki’ [suitcases], i.e., (the kind of) objects that are used to transport everyday items.

And women used 'makijaż’ [makeup], i.e., cosmetics applied on skin to make it prettier, or to improve your looks.

Ok, and now it’s time for my favorite French word which exists in Polish. That word is 'koszmar’ [nightmare]. 'Koszmar’ is a negative, bad dream, which we dream during the night. When we have 'koszmary’, we wake up in the middle of the night, full of anxiety, fear, related to what we have just dreamt of. I should quickly explain that I like this word not because of its meaning, but because I think that it sounds nice, [it sounds] cool.

And that’s the end of today’s video. Ten words of French origin: three expressions (’deja vu’, 'à propos’, 'va banque’), three things related to culture and art, i.e., 'ekran’, 'pejzaż’ i 'plener’, three things related to lifestyle, or housing equipment, once of a wealthy bourgeoisie, and today of most families, i.e., 'żyrandol’, 'makijaż’, 'walizka’. And finally: 'koszmar’.

I hope that this video was not a 'koszmar’ to you, But, just the opposite, you liked it. And if so, please leave a like. Maybe you know some words of French origin in Polish? There is much more of them than only the ones that I mentioned here. If any come to your mind, please mention them in the comments. Maybe you have a favorite French word, just like me, and it’s not 'koszmar’. Let me know and see you in the next video.

By the way, you can also analyze this video at your own convenience, leveraging the translation, and doing an additional lexical exercise. You can find all of these in a special PDF file available on my website, and you can find the link to it in the description of this video.