# Knackered



## Cynthia F

*Cześć*

Can anyone help with a translation of the word "knackered" or suggest a similar word in Polish?

It's a slang term in England for being very tired. 

So for example, you may say - I'm knackered (I'm shattered or extremely tired) or use it to say "You look knackered!".

Thanks!


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## fragile1

very tired - bardzo zmęczony (masculin), zmęczona (feminine)
Knackered - if the woman - slang - Jestem padnięta (about yourself )
"You look knackered!" - "Wyglasz na zmęczoną" , "Wyglasz jak byś była wykończona"
Knackered - if the man - slang - Jestem padnięty (about yourself )
"You look knackered!" - "Wyglasz na zmęczonego" , "Wyglasz jak byś był wykończony"

But I am sure, there would be more options.


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## Cynthia F

Thank you. That's very helpful!


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## Greg from Poland

Jestem wykończon*y* (masculine) / wykończon*a* (feminine) sounds best.

Cheers


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## Cynthia F

thanks Greg


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## mekinking

also: i'm knackered-padam na twarz (both m&f), konam ze zmęczenia, jestem skonany (m), jestem skonana (f), jestem półżywy ze zmęczenia (m), jestem półżywa ze zmęczenia (f)
i've also heard jestem sterany (m), jestem sterana (F) but it's rather a rare one; they generally mean very,very tired


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## majlo

There are actually two similar words: _sterany _and _styrany_. They mean more or less the same thing.

Mekinking, could you please use capitals?


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## mekinking

Sure, sorry I've forgotten about them. Unfortunately "styrany" doesn't exist, at least according to my "Wielki słownik poprawnej polszczyzny PWN 2007", there is only "sterany", but I don't know its etymology. "Styrany" comes probably from "tyrać" - work very very hard but it's not approved by the dictionary.


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## majlo

It might not exist in your dictionary, but it surely exist in our everyday speech. 
I agree with you on the eytmology.


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## mekinking

Is it going to be an off-topic? I am sure it exists in the every day speech, if we say "tyrać" we derive (or how is the process called) from it an adjective "styrany", but still according to the norm it is not correct, so we should avoid it if we are aware of the difference between "sterany" and "styrany". Probably the so called 'uzus' (the custom?) will sooner or later dominate and become the norm, but still, should we say "poszłem" or "włanczać" because it exists in the every day speech? 
It looks like an off-top right now, sorry, but I had to present my opinion 

And how about knackered as "zmordowany" (m) "zmordowana" (f)?


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## majlo

Well, we are referring to _styrany/sterany _which is connected with the subject matter. I don't think it's an offtopic. 
_Styrany _can't be compared with _poszłem _and _włanczać _as the latter blatantly violate the rules of Polish.
I agree that sooner or later _styrany _will find its way to the dictionary.


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## mekinking

Let's say I might agree with you about the impossibility of comparing 'styrany' and 'poszłem' etc 
But still we should not present it here as a way of saying "I'm tired" as according to the dictionary it is incorrect (btw I have checked some other dictionaries, not only the Poprawnej polszczyzny 2007 one, and 'styrany' is not mentioned there or is mentioned as "nie: styrany")

Cynthia, I hope we've helped


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## majlo

So what it's not in the dictionary? It's not a reason whatsoever why we shouldn't use this word. And it _is _used a lot, I'd say more often than _sterany_. There are many words that are not in the dictionary, and still are used by a lot of people every day.
http://www.sjp.pl/styrany


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## mekinking

Well, if it's not in the dictionary, we should not advice the others to use it (by others I mean those who learn Polish etc). We might inform them that such a form exists, that they might come across it but we should not encourage them to use it instead of the correct form "sterany" (btw sjp.pl is not the best source of correctness/incorrectness to me). It's the same case as in the French verlanisation, which exists, is used but while learning French we are supposed to use the correct form "voiture" instead of the verlan "turvoi" (even if it exists in many dictionaries). You have to learn the correct form, and once you've mastered it you might go for the various forms, jargons etc.


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## Cynthia F

Yes - thank you everyone it's been very interesting. 

As my boyfriend is Polish, he will understand your everyday use of the word, even if it doesn't exist in the dictionary!


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## majlo

Cynthia F said:


> even if it doesn't exist in the dictionary!



Exactly!


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