# I will never forget you



## mikemaciazka

Hi all, this is my first post.  I will give a quick background as to why I want this.

NOTE: I just read the rules quickly, so I hope I'm not breaking any (please let me know if I am and I can change my post).

I am getting a tattoo that will have the Polish Eagle with a scroll/banner under it.  The banner will have my last name in it (Maciazka).

I also want to incorporate the phrase "I will never forget you" into it. 

My purpose for this tattoo is that it shows my pride in heritage and it's a tribute to my father who passed away at 56 in 2006.

I have come up with 2 possible variations and I wasn't sure what the difference in the 2 was and I don't know if either or both are correct.

Any help would be great.

Here is what I have so far:  
*Nigdy nie zapomnę Ciebie* or *Nigdy nie zapomnę o tobie!

*Is one of those the correct phrase?  What's the difference in the two?  Also, someone suggested to me to use the second one, but capitalize Tobie!  Also, I want to make sure I have correct diacritics in place.  So if you wouldn't mind adding those if I've forgotten them.


Thank you again for any help you can give me.
Michael Maciazka


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## majlo

Hi Michael! Welcome to the forums! 

They're both correct grammatically, but the former sounds a little strange in this context (it suggests that there's also someone else to forget about). The latter is better but I'd shift _o tobie_ which doesn't sound good to my ear standing at the end. Thus, I'd make it _Nigdy o tobie nie zapomnę!_ Another option could be _Nigdy cię nie zapomnę!_ which literally means "I will never forget you" (_Nigdy o tobie nie zapomnę _literally meaning "I will never forget about you"). It's a good idea to capitalise the personal pronoun _tobie _or _cię_, but if it's supposed to be a tattoo, I would just have the whole phrase done in upper case (though, it's just my personal preference).

Hope that helps! Don't hesitate to ask further if needed, though.


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## Rusak963

Hi and welcome to the forums!

Your versions are grammatically and diacritically correct but if you ask me I'd use a diferent version, which is: 

Nigdy Cię nie zapomnę.


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## -Arturo-

I would also go with one of these.

Nigdy Cię nie zapomnę.


Nigdy o Tobie nie zapomnę.


For me, the latter sounds more emotional. Also I would capitalise both "tobie" and "cię" it shows more respect towards the person you write to/about.


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## mikemaciazka

Thanks a lot for the responses...I'm glad the online translators (Google's specifically) is fairly accurate.

I will be going with this then:  Nigdy Cię nie zapomnę


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## mikemaciazka

Also, same accent or whatever it's called on the E if I do all caps correct?


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## NotNow

Yes, you must put the "little tail" on the e's.

This link may help:

http://polish.typeit.org/


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## Ben Jamin

-Arturo- said:


> I would also go with one of these.
> 
> Nigdy Cię nie zapomnę.
> 
> 
> Nigdy o Tobie nie zapomnę.
> 
> 
> For me, the latter sounds more emotional. Also I would capitalise both "tobie" and "cię" it shows more respect towards the person you write to/about.


 
There is a difference in meaning between the two sentences. 
"Nigdy o Tobie nie zapomnę" suggests in addition that "I'll always be thinking about you, and never leave you alone without help"
The first sentence states merely that "I will recognize you when I meet you again"


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## majlo

These two sentences don't differ in meaning the way you described it.

I wouldn't take this explanation to heart.


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## Ben Jamin

majlo said:


> These two sentences don't differ in meaning the way you described it.
> 
> I wouldn't take this explanation to heart.


Not if you translate them word for word, but there is something like implied meaning.
What about "Nie zapomnę Ci tego". It can be just an innocent  (or even positive) statement, but most likely it's a threat.


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## Rusak963

Ben Jamin said:


> The first sentence states merely that "I will recognize you when I meet you again"



I have to disagree on that, I'm afraid. "Nigdy Cie nie zapomnę" is packed with emotions, indicates that the person you are talking to is very close to you, perhaps helped you greatly at a time of need, and so on.

I think "Zapamiętam Cię" would be the sentence to express the meaning you suggested, although it can have negative connotations.


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## arturolczykowski

I agree with majlo and Rusak963. There is no significant difference between discussed sentences.


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## majlo

Ben Jamin said:


> Not if you translate them word for word,


Not if you translate them sense for sense either.



Ben Jamin said:


> but there is something like implied meaning.


The thing about "implied meaning" is that it's subject to interpretation which can differ among different individuals. You interpret the former as



Ben Jamin said:


> The first sentence states merely that *"I will recognize you when I meet you again"*



which to me is utter nonsense. Like Rusak said, this sentence -- especially in this context -- is very emotional and definitely isn't "merely about reocgnizing someone".




Ben Jamin said:


> What about "Nie zapomnę Ci tego". It can be just an innocent  (or even positive) statement, but most likely it's a threat.


What does it have to do with the topic? Many sentences can be interpreted depending on context.


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## word_up

In the same vein, one could say that 
"Nigdy o Tobie nie zapomnę" refers to merely to not forgetting about the person when e.g. we are planning who is going to go on a trip with us or who should be invited to a dinner.

In my opinion two sentences can bear emotional value, and in this context I like "Nigdy Cię nie zapomnę" even better - just my personal preference. Both are gramatically correct and convey the meaning intended by MikeM

PS. The "accent" on E (Ę) is rather called "tail" - because it does not tell where the real (grammatical) accent is put in the sentence. I find this misleading, but maybe it's a tradition of calling it "accent". 
Actually, (Ę) is a different sound from (E); it's a different vowel. Therefore works as any other letter. However, in speech it many a time sounds like E, usually when it's the last letter in a word, so in speech you don't observe it nearly so much as in writing.


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## majlo

We don't call these "tails" accent, do we? It's the first time I've heard someone refer to them this way.


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## word_up

Yes, we don't. Accent is where the stress is put when pronouncing, tail - that little something dangling from e.g. E which makes it Ę 
In Polish "ogonek"  - we used that name in school. Well, this may be my own, but I surely would not call it an accent - that's a quite different idea to me...


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## mikemaciazka

Thanks for the correction....I wasn't sure what it was called...I read on wikipedia that it's called an ogonek or "little tail".  So I apologize for that.  I wasn't sure what it was...when I wrote accent, I didn't mean in a sense of when you speak, but rather like when you bold or italicize something.

Anyway, thanks again for the definition and as I said, I will be using Nigdy Cię nie zapomnę for sure.  I will talk to the artist who is doing the tattoo about capitalizing the entire thing or just as it's written above.

I will post a picture when it's all done.  It will be done the beginning of May so I will post back.

I wish there were some way for me to hear it as well so I could hear how it sounds when said and learn to say it myself...I'm not familiar with the language though.  My father new some that he learned from his grandparents and mother, but he never really taught me any of it.


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## NotNow

mikemaciazka said:


> I wish there were some way for me to hear it as well so I could hear how it sounds when said and learn to say it myself...I'm not familiar with the language though. My father new some that he learned from his grandparents and mother, but he never really taught me any of it.


 
Use the following link to listen to the phrase:

http://www.ivona.com/online/editor.php?tmpl=15


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## word_up

> Thanks for the correction....I wasn't sure what it was called...I read on wikipedia that it's called an ogonek or "little tail". So I apologize for that. I wasn't sure what it was...when I wrote accent, I didn't mean in a sense of when you speak, but rather like when you bold or italicize something.



You did nothing wrong to apologize - sorry to make it look like that. I just wanted to give you a better idea what is "little tail" doing there. Maybe it's just me, but when I encountered similar marks in various languages and was told it's accent, I just wondered when you use it and when not.
With "little tails" the thing is different - they are there always - it's just that there are some extra letters that don't belong to the latin alphabet (Polish aphabet has 32 letters, as you surely already know) - not that it makes anything easier 

Wish you all the best and a nice tattoo


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## majlo

mikemaciazka said:


> I will talk to the artist who is doing the tattoo about capitalizing the entire thing or just as it's written above.



I bet he will go for upper case.


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## mikemaciazka

I just got the tattoo yesterday/this morning.  It was a group of us that  had an appointment for 3PM yesterday and by the time he was ready for  mine, it was around midnight.  I left there at 4AM this morning.  I'm  working on getting the pics edited a little and uploaded so I will come  back and edit this post with the pictures.

I didn't forget about you guys...

Here's a quick pic:
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp107/mikemaciazka/Kathys Tattoo Party May 8th 2010/IMG_2381.jpg


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## word_up

Nicely done - and gramatically correct  (must remember it is a language forum ;P)

Regards

W-U


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## majlo

Upper case.


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