# mówić (Can it mean "to say"?)



## Brian P

Marga H said:


> Dobry wieczór!
> Anatoli has done a good explanation


 
Mała błąd Marga. Muszisz mówic, "Anatoli has given a good explanation".

Powodzenia do ciebie!

Excuse my terrible Polish!


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## Jana337

Brian P said:


> Mała błąd Marga. Muszisz mówic, "Anatoli has given a good explanation".


I don't think you can say mówić, Brian. It means "to speak". 

But I may be wrong. 

Jana


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## Brian P

I checked my Angielsko-Polski Słownik and verified that mówić and the perfective form powiedieć are like the Russian говорить/сказать in that they can mean both "to say" and "to speak".  However in Bulgarian they are different: говоря "I speak" and "казвам" "I say" (Bulgarian has no infinitives)  Are the words different in Czech?


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## Jana337

OK, I am retracting everything.  We cannot "speak a word" and I thought Polish was similar. Thanks!

Jana


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## Anatoli

Brian P said:


> Mała błąd Marga. Muszisz mówic, "Anatoli has given a good explanation".
> 
> Powodzenia do ciebie!
> 
> Excuse my terrible Polish!


I would say: mu*s*isz powiedzieć
powiedzieć - say
mówi*ć* - speak, talk


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## Thomas1

Apart from what others said I'd use both_. _

I'd only use a different construction:
_Po angielsku mówi się (raczej)..._
or
_Po angielsku powiedział(a)byś..._

Anyway, I find the later one more friendly and nicer to my ears.


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## Thomas1

Anatoli said:


> I would say: mu*s*isz powiedzieć
> powiedzieć - say
> mówi*ć* - speak, talk


They are a little bit tricky;
Speak to me.
Powiedz coś do mnie.

He told me to go out.
Powiedział mi żebym wyszedł.

Do you speak Polish?
(Czy) mówisz po polsku?

I talked to him for five minutes and he didn't say a word.
Mówiłem do niego przez pięć minut a on nie wypowiedział ani słowa.

I talked with him for all day long about what he'd done.
Rozmawiałem z nim cały dzień o tym co zrobił.

IMO context is the key here by which you can pick a pertinent translation.


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## Marga H

Thank you Brian for correcting my mistake.Please always do!In return of this may I correct your Polish?
Mał*y *błąd (rodzaj męski)
Życzę ci powodzenia! or Życzę powodzenia! or simply Powodzenia!
"musisz mówić" it is a long story..
I don't agree with Thomas that is only the matter of context.It is problem of polish grammar.I will try to explain clearly. 
*Mówić *and *powiedzieć*  are 2 infinitive forms of *one *verb (both mean to say,to tell or to speak ,depends on the context)
Most polish verbs have 2 forms of infinitive: forma *niedokonana *(mówić) imperfective aspect,incompleted or repeated action  and forma *dokonana *(powiedzieć) perfective aspect,completed action.Usually they are quite similar.For exemple:
robić - zrobić (both mean to do or to make)
pisać - napisać (to write)
jeść - zjeść (to eat)
Sometimes the ending differ:
dawać - dać (to give)
wygrywać - wygrać (to win)
So you can say "musisz mówić głośniej" (because I can't hear you) -repeated action) but "musisz powiedzieć coś"(something :word or sentence - it is competed action)
In your post it would be better "powinnaś powiedzieć"(you should say) or "Ja bym powiedział"(I would say)
Pozdrowienia.


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## werrr

Marga H said:


> ...
> It is problem of polish grammar.I will try to explain clearly.
> *Mówić *and *powiedzieć*  are 2 infinitive forms of *one *verb (both mean to say,to tell or to speak ,depends on the context)
> Most polish verbs have 2 forms of infinitive: forma *niedokonana *(mówić) imperfective aspect,incompleted or repeated action  and forma *dokonana *(powiedzieć) perfective aspect,completed action.Usually they are quite similar.
> ...


Interesting, but Jana who pointed this problem out is familiar with aspects!!! I don't think it's matter of Polish grammar, rather matter of semantics. Heretofore I translated both "říci" and "říkat" as "powiedzieć". But now I see it was'nt absolutely correct. My dictionary says:

_říkat_ = _mówić_
_říci_ = _powiedzieć_

So, it really seems to work as aspectual pair. But I don't think it's real aspectual pair since it is'nt cognate.
In Czech we have (imperfective/perfective form):

_říkat_ / _říci_ ~ *say*
_mluvit_ / _promluvit_ (or _domluvit, mluvívat_...) ~ *speak*
_povídat_ / _povědět_ ~ *talk*

Only the first pair works together with "slovo" (=word).


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## Marga H

Hello again,
I suppose it is especially complicated topic because of a great number of close meaning words.Also in English:say,speak,tell,talk -it is not easy to foreign student!We have even more verbs which are similar and difficult to catch their nuances:mówić/powiedzieć,rozmawiać/porozmawiać,wypowiadać się/wypowiedzieć się,rzec(the old one)gadać(familiar),pogadać.
I see from your post that it is the same thing in Czech language.
Pozdrowienia.


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## Thomas1

I agree with what Werr wrote.



			
				Marga H said:
			
		

> I don't agree with Thomas that is only the matter of context.It is problem of polish grammar.I will try to explain clearly.


 
I did not say that this is only the matter of context and I don’t think that Polish grammar is a problem either. I said that the context is the key thing here which doesn’t mean it’s the only thing here. As a matter of fact, I would say that the grammatical issue of perfectiveness/ imperfectiveness and the semantical one— the context are strongly intertwined. If you change the context you change the aspect on a number of occasions as well.




			
				Marga H said:
			
		

> Sometimes the ending differ:
> dawać - dać (to give)
> wygrywać - wygrać (to win)


It’s not the posfix it’s the infix that makes the verb imperfective. 



			
				werr said:
			
		

> _říkat_ = _mówić_
> _říci_ = _powiedzieć_
> 
> So, it really seems to work as aspectual pair. But I don't think it's real aspectual pair since it is'nt cognate.


I don't quite know how they work in terms of reality but according to the criteria I can make out from your comment _wymówić_ would be the real perfective counterpart of _mówić. _


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## Brian P

A few more tiny mistakes, Marga. I know that articles are difficult for native speakers of most Slavic tongues because you don't have them in your languages. 

If you ever need help send me a PM

Brian



Marga H said:


> Hello again,
> I suppose it is an especially complicated topic because of a the great number of close meaning words.Also in English:say,speak,tell,talk -it is not easy to for a foreign student! (_or you could say, "for foreign students") _We have even more verbs which are similar and and whose nuances are difficult to catch their nuances:mówić/powiedzieć,rozmawiać/porozmawiać,wypowiadać się/wypowiedzieć się,rzec(the old one)gadać(familiar),pogadać.
> I see from your post that it is the same thing in Czech language.
> Pozdrowienia.


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