# powoli, wolno, pomalo...



## Aerio

Hello everyone, 

This came up to me the other day: the differences between _powoli_, _wolno_, _po malo_, and _po malutko_. Other similar words are gladly accepted of course. 

My question is, what is the formal distinction between each word? Context, usage, etc.? 

At home, I noticed I say _Jedz powoli_ or _Jedz po malo_ (my apologies if it's incorrectly spelled) when referring to driving. Any suggestions?


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## robin74

Just a spelling note - it's powoli, wolno, poma*łu*, pomalutk*u*.

I can't really think of any usage differences between _powoli_ and _wolno_. I wouldn't however say "jedź pomału". To me, _pomału_ means more "in small dozes", so you could eat or drink something _pomału_ (slowly), but driving _pomału_ doesn't sound that well to me.


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## Oletta

robin74 said:


> I wouldn't however say "jedź pomału".


Indeed, but in Silesian dialect people would say so.


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## Aerio

robin74 said:


> Just a spelling note - it's powoli, wolno, poma*łu*, pomalutk*u*.
> 
> I can't really think of any usage differences between _powoli_ and _wolno_. I wouldn't however say "jedź pomału". To me, _pomału_ means more "in small dozes", so you could eat or drink something _pomału_ (slowly), but driving _pomału_ doesn't sound that well to me.



Thank you. Sorry for the misspellings, I guess I write as I speak but I speak English-Polish which is a diluted form of proper Polish. 

Btw, I think you mean the word _doses_ rather than _dozes_; at first I read it as _dozens_, lol.


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## Aerio

Oletta said:


> Indeed, but in Silesian dialect people would say so.



My grandma (who's the main talker in our house) is from the Tarnow area. 
I don't know, though, if that's even remotely considered Silesian. 

I would imagine I learned it from her, but lately I've been wanted to emulate my mom's proper Polish (she always corrects me like I correct her English).


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## Oletta

In Tarnów they speak proper Polish, .


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## Thomas1

Robin's explanation looks logical to me. However, I am sure I've heard it used in the context of driving a car, or for that matter in the context of movement, meaning wolno, bez pośpiechu. _Pomalutku_, and I guess less often _pomału_, can be used in a context of asking someone how they are doing:
_Jak leci?
Pomalutku._

I wouldn't use _wolno, powoli _in this context.

Tom


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## Oletta

Thomas1 said:


> _
> 
> Jak leci?
> Pomalutku._
> 
> I wouldn't use _wolno, powoli _in this context.
> 
> Tom



Hahaha, yes, I agree with Thomas. _Jak leci? Wolno/powoli _sounds weird. It gave me a good opportunity to laugh, thank you.  BTW such usage might imply something different. (Let's imagine some tap problem in sb's kitchen. After a minor repair a person asks another one: _Jak leci? _(meaning the water from the tap) _Powoli._)


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