# chłopak and chłopiec



## LeTasmanien

These two can both be translated as 'boy' in English though I believe that 'chłopak' can also mean 'boyfriend'.
Are there any other differences in their meaning and/or usage?


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## jasio

LeTasmanien said:


> These two can both be translated as 'boy' in English though I believe that 'chłopak' can also mean 'boyfriend'.


Indeed.



LeTasmanien said:


> Are there any other differences in their meaning and/or usage?


Rather subtle, I would say, especially for a person learning Polish as a foreign language.

"Chłopak" implies certain distance to a person, while "chłopiec" is more intimate. It may result from the boy's age (in the absence of other factors, I would say that "chłopiec" is younger than "chłopak"; the latter, let's say, from a teenager to a young male), but may also mean a negative attitude (If you say "Co to za chłopak?" referring to a boy you would normally refer to as "chłopiec" may mean that you dislike him or that he's done something wrong. On the other hand, you may use a phrase "co (to) za chłopak!" to express your admiration for his bravery, courage or grown-up behaviour higher than you would normally expect. If you say "chłopiec" about a teenager, it would imply that you treat him like a child, or that you are an old lady who treats all young males as if they were her own children (it may be a result of a shift of the word meaning throughout her lifetime, but it sounds this way anyway). On the other hand, "nasi chłopcy" is much more natural than "nasi chłopacy" when referring to a foottball team winning their games, soldiers ("Nasi chłopcy służą w Afganistanie", "Nasi chłopcy zginęli w obronie ojczyzny", etc), etc.

If you refer to a pre-school or younger boys you may also use "chłopczyk" rather than "chłopiec".


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## Karton Realista

jasio said:


> nasi chłopacy"


This form is correct according to dictionaries (it freaked me out, for my whole life I thought it was wrong) but really rare and I would just say "nasze chłopaki".

To add to your examples, in school environments, boys will always address themselves by saying "chłopaki!", but girls may additionally address them with "chłopcy!".


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## jasio

Karton Realista said:


> This form is correct according to dictionaries (it freaked me out, for my whole life I thought it was wrong) but really rare and I would just say "nasze chłopaki".


Good point. 
Anyway, after they have won, I typically hear "nasi chłopcy spisali się na medal".


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## LeTasmanien

Thanks Jasio and KR for these useful insights. Based on them it seems to me that ‘chłopak’ is close, in meaning and usage, to the English word ‘lad’.


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## Ben Jamin

LeTasmanien said:


> Thanks Jasio and KR for these useful insights. Based on them it seems to me that ‘chłopak’ is close, in meaning and usage, to the English word ‘lad’.


Indeed! I intended to write just the same, but you came first.


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## gvergara

Hi, 

I would like just to know if these plural forms can be considered exceptions, as:



jasio said:


> "nasi chłopcy"


_... chłopiec _ends in a soft consonant, and its plural should therefore be _chłopce. _The Wiktionary indicates that the latter is a _forma deprecjatywna._



Karton Realista said:


> chłopaki





jasio said:


> chłopczyk


_... chłopak _is a personal masculine noun ending in a hard consonant (_k_), and its plural form should therefore be _chłopacy _(just like _Polak/Polacy_); however, the Wiktionary says its plural form is _chłopa*ki*. _The same reasonings goes to_ chłopczyk/chłopczy*ki*._


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## Henares

I’ve never met the form “chłopce” or “chłopczyki” in any context. Both “chłopaki” and “chłopacy” are used. The latter in colloquial in my opinion.

I’m not able to say whether these are exceptions to any rules, because I don’t know the rules - I just know what we use


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## Panceltic

gvergara said:


> _... chłopiec _ends in a soft consonant, and its plural should therefore be _chłopce._



I think this only 100% applies to non-virile nouns (niemęskoosobowy). There are plenty of masculine personal nouns ending in _c_ that have plurals in _y_ (Niemcy, kupcy, szewcy, jeźdźcy, strzelcy, niegodziwcy, zarozumialcy ...)


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## gvergara

Panceltic said:


> I think this only 100% applies to non-virile nouns (niemęskoosobowy). There are plenty of masculine personal nouns ending in _c_ that have plurals in _y_ (Niemcy, kupcy, szewcy, jeźdźcy, strzelcy, niegodziwcy, zarozumialcy ...)


Interesujące... What I gather all those have in common is that ther singular forms all lose vowels when forming the plural nominative (most of the _*ie*_ combination): Niem*ie*c/Niemcy; kup*ie*c/kupcy; szewc (szew*ie*c??)/szewcy; jeźdz*ie*c/jeźdźcy; strzel*e*c/strzelcy; niegodziw*ie*c/niegodziwcy; zarozumial*e*c/zarozumialec. Wondering now whether there might be some kind of "hidden rule" for forming the plural of masculine personal nouns ending in _(i)ec, or more broadly, _in _vowel+_c_. I do not know much vocabulary, but other male-form professions ending in a soft consonant build their plural nominative "normally": lekarz/lekarz*e*; nauczyciel/nauczyciel*e*.


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## Drakonica

chłop - a pesant, a fellow, a guy
chłopina - a guy (poor, miserable, small)

chłopak - a boy (≈ 0-2x years), a boyfrend
chłopiec - a boy (≈ 0-1x years)
chłopczyk - a little boy (≈ 0-10 years)

chłopaczydło, chłopaczysko - a boy (rude, naughty or very tall)
chłopaczyna, chłopię - a boy (poor, miserable, small)
chłopaczek, chłoptaś, chłoptyś - a boy (who we don't like, we don't respect)


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## wyrzyk

It’s true that nouns with the -(ie)c suffix are generally divided into masculine-personal with plural -y (jeźdźcy, kupcy) and non-personal with -e (latawce, grobowce). 

But non-personal masculine nouns like dzień, śmieć can also have the -i/y plural:  dni, śmieci (dnie, śmiecie are less common, although when it’s used as an insult it’s śmiecie and not śmieci).  

Feminine nouns ending in soft consonants can have similarly irregular plurals, like nić - nici vs paproć - paprocie.


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## Ben Jamin

jasio said:


> Indeed.
> 
> 
> Rather subtle, I would say, especially for a person learning Polish as a foreign language.
> 
> "Chłopak" implies certain distance to a person, while "chłopiec" is more intimate. It may result from the boy's age (in the absence of other factors, I would say that "chłopiec" is younger than "chłopak"; the latter, let's say, from a teenager to a young male), but may also mean a negative attitude (If you say "Co to za chłopak?" referring to a boy you would normally refer to as "chłopiec" may mean that you dislike him or that he's done something wrong. On the other hand, you may use a phrase "co (to) za chłopak!" to express your admiration for his bravery, courage or grown-up behaviour higher than you would normally expect. If you say "chłopiec" about a teenager, it would imply that you treat him like a child, or that you are an old lady who treats all young males as if they were her own children (it may be a result of a shift of the word meaning throughout her lifetime, but it sounds this way anyway). On the other hand, "nasi chłopcy" is much more natural than "nasi chłopacy" when referring to a foottball team winning their games, soldiers ("Nasi chłopcy służą w Afganistanie", "Nasi chłopcy zginęli w obronie ojczyzny", etc), etc.
> 
> If you refer to a pre-school or younger boys you may also use "chłopczyk" rather than "chłopiec".


Excellent explanation! I would add from my side: the original gradation of intimacy/tenderness (from largest to least) was chłopczyk, chłopiec, chłopak, chłop, buthe usage is more complicated, as explaind by Jasio. The word "chłop" has many meanings: an adult male, a stout macho man, or a peasant.
A whole book may be written about the origins, derivations and usage of this word family, but maybe this is enough for a beginner learner of Polish


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