# Czy wiesz, że/czy...?



## elroy

Cześć,

According to my book, the way to ask "Do you know *whether/if*..." is "Czy wiesz, *że*...".  

It gives the following example:

_-Czy wiesz, że Michel ma dziewczynę?_
_-Wiem, że nie ma._

This seems a little odd to me, because to me it sounds like "Do you know *that* Michel has a girlfriend?"  I would have used _czy_ instead of _że_.

Is _że_ really the correct conjunction to use here?  If so, how could one differentiate between "whether/if" and "that"?  Context?  Is _czy_ at least a possible alternative?

Bardzo dziękuję.


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## Anatoli

> _-Czy wiesz, że Michel ma dziewczynę?_
> _-Wiem, że nie ma.
> _


Your translation is correct, it's not "if/whether" but "that".
_- Do you know *that* Michel has a girlfriend? (lit.: whether you know that...)
- I know *that* he hasn't.
_"Czy" can be used but the meaning would be slightly different. It would mean "if/whether".


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## Thomas1

Ok, let's take some examples:

_Wiesz czy oni majá komputer?_
Do you know whether they have a computer?
_Wiesz, że masz jutro egzamin?_
You know (that) you've got an exam tomorrow(, don't you)?
_Wiesz może czy Michel poszedł do sklepu?_
Do you maybe (though, not usre if it really works in English) know whether Michel's gone to the shop?
_Orientujesz się czy niedźwiedź polarny żyje na Syberii?_
Do you happen to know whether ploar bear lives in Siberia?



elroy said:


> Cześć,
> 
> According to my book, the way to ask "Do you know *whether/if*..." is "Czy wiesz, *że*...".
> 
> It gives the following example:
> 
> _-Czy wiesz, że Michel ma dziewczynę?_
> _-Wiem, że nie ma._
> 
> This seems a little odd to me, because to me it sounds like "Do you know *that* Michel has a girlfriend?" I would have used _czy_ instead of _że_.
> 
> Is _że_ really the correct conjunction to use here? If so, how could one differentiate between "whether/if" and "that"? Context? Is _czy_ at least a possible alternative?
> 
> Bardzo dziękuję.


Yes, context is everything (as always ). _Czy _is rather unlikely in your example I don't think many Poles would say:
_Czy wiesz czy Michel ma dziewczynę?_ although I can't rule out this possibility despite its being disharmonious.
rather
_Wiesz czy Michel ma dziewczynę?_
or even
_Wiesz może czy Michel ma dziewczynę?_


Tom


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## elroy

Thomas, your examples are all clear, because you used _czy_ for "if/whether" and _że_ for "that."

The tricky sentence is the original sentence.

According to Anatoli, _że_ means "that" in that sentence.  That would have been my guess, but it actually doesn't make sense (considering the response) and the book clearly states that it means "if/whether."

According to Thomas, it does indeed mean "if/whether," and in fact sounds better than _czy_ in this sentence, although _czy_ can obviously be used with that meaning (judging from his examples).  Perhaps _czy_ is changed to _że_ in my sentence to avoid too many _czy_'s (since the sentence begins with one)?  Either way, my question still remains.  Isn't the sentence _Czy wiesz, że Michel ma dziewczynę?_ ambiguous?  If somebody just came up to you and said that (so no previous context), could it not mean two different things?


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## Thomas1

elroy said:


> Thomas, your examples are all clear, because you used _czy_ for "if/whether" and _że_ for "that."
> 
> The tricky sentence is the original sentence.
> 
> 
> According to Anatoli, _że_ means "that" in that sentence. That would have been my guess, but it actually doesn't make sense (considering the response) and the book clearly states that it means "if/whether."
> 
> According to Thomas, it does indeed mean "if/whether," and in fact sounds better than _czy_ in this sentence, although _czy_ can obviously be used with that meaning (judging from his examples). Perhaps _czy_ is changed to _że_ in my sentence to avoid too many _czy_'s (since the sentence begins with one)? Either way, my question still remains. Isn't the sentence _Czy wiesz, że Michel ma dziewczynę?_ ambiguous? If somebody just came up to you and said that (so no previous context), could it not mean two different things?


I must admit that I don't quite know where the problem in my previous post lies.  I didn't say it meant _whether/if_, did I? Anatoli's explanation is valid and IMO it is a very good explanation. You asked about its differentiating and this is mainly what my examples were meant to illustrate. 

Now the original examples
_



-Czy wiesz, że Michel ma dziewczynę?
-Wiem, że nie ma.

Click to expand...

__



- Do you know *that* Michel has a girlfriend? (lit.: whether you know that...)
- I know *that* he hasn't.

Click to expand...

_ 
There's is no ambiquity here, the asking person knows that Michel has a girlfriend and is asking the other one whether they know about this fact too.


_-(Czy) wiesz czy Michel ma dziewczynę?_
_-nie ma/ma/ nie wiem_
_-Do you know whether Michel has a girlfriend?_
_-No, he doesn't/ yes he does/ I don't know._
tells us that the asking person doesn't know whether Michel has a girlfriend and is checking if the other one knows.

So going back to your questions:


> Is _że_ really the correct conjunction to use here?


Yes, it is.



> If so, how could one differentiate between "whether/if" and "that"?


_Że _means here _that_; as far as I know, it doesn't mean _weather/if. _



> Context?


Yes, may turn out to be very helpful.



> Is _czy_ at least a possible alternative?


Yes, it is, but as I said a few lines above it changes the meaning of the whole sentence.



Please, don't hesitate to pose further questions should you have them.


Tom


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## elroy

Thomas, there is no problem with your examples or your answers.  I misunderstood your last post.  I now see that you agree with me (and Anatoli) and not with the author of the book, who for some reason states that _że_ in these sentences means "whether/if," which is why I started this thread.


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## arturolczykowski

_-Czy wiesz, że Michel ma dziewczynę?_
_-Wiem, że nie ma.

_The example seems to be odd for me. The anwser "Wiem, że nie ma" fits better to the question "Czy wiesz czy Michel ma dziewczynę?" "Do you know whether Michel has got a girlfriend?". If I would like to ask whether the asked person knows that Michel has got a girlfriend (in Polish: "Czy wiesz, że Michel ma dziewczynę?" "Do you know that Michel has got a girlfriend?") I would expect anwsers like:

-Nie wiedziałem/wiem

but not: "Wiem, że nie ma". That anwser however could be possible after a small modification: "Niemożliwe, wiem na pewno, że nie ma!"


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## elroy

arturolczykowski said:


> The example seems to be odd for me. The anwser "Wiem, że nie ma" fits better to the question "Czy wiesz czy Michel ma dziewczynę?" "Do you know whether Michel has got a girlfriend?".


 My thoughts exactly! 

Seems to me this is an obvious error in the book.


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## Thomas1

How about the following scenario:
someone dashes in, excited with a new piece of information, saying with a rising intonation:
Wiesz, że Michel ma dziewczynę?
the other one--with a po-faced expression and complete lack of enthusiasm answers in a low timbre:
-_Wiem, że ma._
The former one saddens and goes out. 

Looks fine to me.


Tom


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## elroy

I guess that's a possibility, but if you were implying that my only basis for thinking that the author was saing that _że_ meant "if" in the sentence was the response, then I can tell you that that's not the case.  There is an English translation of the sentence with the word "if."


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