# Other Slavic equivalents of Polish "przecież"



## polskajason

There is a Polish word *przecież* that doesn't have a neat English equivalent. 


Pada deszcz, a przecież rano było pogodnie. (It's raining, and yet this morning it was clear)
Dlaczego nie pijesz? Przecież chce Ci się pić. (Why aren't you drinking? After all, you're thirsty.)
Mogę przestać pić kiedy chcę. - No, przecież. (I can stop drinking when I want. - Sure, you can (sarcastically))
Dlaczego się nie uczysz do sprawdzianu? Przecież uczę się cały tydzień. (Why aren't you studying for your test? - But I've studied all week.)
Is there a more direct equivalent in other Slavic languages? Or is this word more or less an exception?


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## Eirwyn

I think "ведь" is the closest equivalent you can find in Russian. However, you can't use it in the third example, and it should be accompanied by some other particles in the second and fourth one.


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## Panceltic

2 and 4 can be covered by "saj" in Slovenian.


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## karaluszek

Czech _přece _(correct me if I'm wrong).


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## francisgranada

In Slovak I'd say _predsa  _or _veď_. It depends on the concrete context or situation.


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## marco_2

In Ukrainian it's *адже, адже ж *or, colloquially,* таж*.


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## cHr0mChIk

I dont think there's a one word equivalent in Serbian...

In the 1st sentence, I wouldn't add anything - pada kiša, a jutros je bilo lepo vreme....

In the 2nd sentence I'd use "ipak"

In the 3rd I'd maybe say "of course" ("naravno" or "kako da ne" perhaps)

And in the 4th, I guess "ali" (but).


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## Włoskipolak 72

I was born in Poland .., but sometimes i have to admit  I'm forgetting my native language...

_partykuła mająca nawiązywać do danej sytuacji, wypowiedzi i podważyć jej prawdziwość, słuszność._

*przecież* «partykuła wprowadzająca sąd polemiczny w stosunku do wypowiedzianego wcześniej, podkreślająca, że jego prawdziwość jest dla mówiącego oczywista, 
np. _Pana przecież obowiązuje jakaś etyka zawodowa.

*przecież*  the partical introducing the polemic court in relation to the previously said, stressing that his truth is obvious to speaking,_


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## Włoskipolak 72

Do exist '' czy '' in Czech , Slovak and other Slavic languages ?

*Czy *chcesz oglądać telewizję?


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## francisgranada

Włoskipolak 72 said:


> Do exist '' czy '' in Czech , Slovak and other Slavic languages ?
> 
> *Czy *chcesz oglądać telewizję?


In Slovak yes, but in standard language the Slovak "*či*" corresponds rather to the English "if" in contexts like e.g. "Neviem, *či* chceš pozerať televíziu." (= I don't know *if* you want to watch television).


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## Panceltic

Włoskipolak 72 said:


> Do exist '' czy '' in Czech , Slovak and other Slavic languages ?
> 
> *Czy *chcesz oglądać telewizję?



In Slovenian we can say *ali* or just *a* colloquially. _Ali_ usually means _or_ and _a_ usually means _but_.

The most formal way to ask a question is just to put the verb at the beginning and add rising intonation at the end.


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## polskajason

Włoskipolak 72 said:


> Do exist '' czy '' in Czech , Slovak and other Slavic languages ?
> 
> *Czy *chcesz oglądać telewizję?


In BCS it's "li" and appears as the 2nd word in the sentence/clause.

Croatian: Hoćeš li gledati televiziju? / Serbian: Da li hoćeš da gledaš televiziju?
Croatian: Ne znam hoćeš li gledati televiziju. / Serbian: Ne znam da li hoćeš da gledaš televiziju.


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## karaluszek

polskajason said:


> In BCS it's "li" and appears as the 2nd word in the sentence/clause.


As an interesting side note, I can add that the particle *li* has been attested in Polish since the 14th century, and had the same function as in BCS.
Examples:
„Oczy smutne podnoszę na wszystkie strony, upatrując, kto*li* się mnie użałuje” (Jan Kochanowski 1530-1584);
„Znasz*li* ten kraj, gdzie cytryna dojrzewa” (Adam Mickiewicz 1798-1855);
„Przystąp, ktokolwiek jesteś wróg *li* czy przyjaciel” (Zygmunt Krasiński 1812-1859).

The suspicion that it is a Russianism caused its disappearance. Unjustly, because it is a Proto-Slavic heritage.
*-li* was preserved in the following words: czyli (czy li), albo (formerly: a-li-bo), jeśli (formerly: jest li).


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## marco_2

karaluszek said:


> As an interesting side note, I can add that the particle *li* has been attested in Polish since the 14th century, and had the same function as in BCS.
> Examples:
> „Oczy smutne podnoszę na wszystkie strony, upatrując, kto*li* się mnie użałuje” (Jan Kochanowski 1530-1584);
> „Znasz*li* ten kraj, gdzie cytryna dojrzewa” (Adam Mickiewicz 1798-1855);
> „Przystąp, ktokolwiek jesteś wróg *li* czy przyjaciel” (Zygmunt Krasiński 1812-1859).
> 
> The suspicion that it is a Russianism caused its disappearance. Unjustly, because it is an Proto-Slavic heritage.
> *-li* was preserved in the following words: czyli (czy li), albo (formerly: a-li-bo), jeśli (formerly: jest li).


In very bookish and sophisticated texts you can still meet an expression *li tylko *which means *prawdopodobnie tylko *and expresses some doubts of their authors, e.g. *Jest to przeszkoda li tylko formalna i zapewne usuwalna.*


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## Милан

polskajason said:


> In BCS it's "li" and appears as the 2nd word in the sentence/clause.
> 
> Croatian: Hoćeš li gledati televiziju? / Serbian: Da li hoćeš da gledaš televiziju?
> Croatian: Ne znam hoćeš li gledati televiziju. / Serbian: Ne znam da li hoćeš da gledaš televiziju.


Please note that the 'Croatian' version is perfectly normal, correct in Standard Serbian, and *used in Serbia.*
I would never say 'da li hoćeš da gledaš televiziju', it is just too long and here in Vojvodina (Northern Serbia) we actually prefer the infinitive.


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## polskajason

Милан said:


> Please note that the 'Croatian' version is perfectly normal, correct in Standard Serbian, and *used in Serbia.*
> I would never said 'da li hoćeš da gledaš televiziju', it is just too long and here in Vojvodina (Northern Serbia) we actually prefer the infinitive.


Sure, they aren't clean linguistic/dialectical lines, esp in the north. In fact I recently saw a video of a tour of Subotica, and the national theater sign said pozorište in Cyrillic, but kazalište in Latin.


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## Милан

polskajason said:


> Sure, they aren't clean linguistic/dialectical lines, esp in the north. In fact I recently saw a video of a tour of Subotica, and the national theater sign said pozorište in Cyrillic, but kazalište in Latin.


That's because kazalište is a Croatian word. Croatian is one of the official languages of Subotica along with Serbian, Hungarian, and Bunjevac.


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## GyörgyMS

Włoskipolak 72 said:


> Do exist '' czy '' in Czech , Slovak and other Slavic languages ?
> 
> *Czy *chcesz oglądać telewizję?


In Ukrainian:

*Чи* ти хочеш дивитися телевізор?


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## Włoskipolak 72

In German I would use doch .

Du sagtest *doch*, das sei nicht ansteckend.

*Przecież* powiedziałeś, że to nie jest zakaźne.


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## cHr0mChIk

Милан said:


> Please note that the 'Croatian' version is perfectly normal, correct in Standard Serbian, and *used in Serbia.*
> I would never say 'da li hoćeš da gledaš televiziju', it is just too long and here in Vojvodina (Northern Serbia) we actually prefer the infinitive.


In Banat we'd actually never use infinitive in such sentences, so I believe it's more of a Bačka thing rather than a Vojvodina thing.
I'd say if speaking informally/colloquially " 'oćeś da gledaš TV? "


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## GrayRogue

Panceltic said:


> In Slovenian we can say *ali* or just *a* colloquially. _Ali_ usually means _or_ and _a_ usually means _but_.
> 
> The most formal way to ask a question is just to put the verb at the beginning and add rising intonation at the end.


I always regarded the *ali* version to be the most formal and the _*a*_ version as being used in western Slovenia (west of Slovenska Bistrica and especially central Slovenia), since what you describe as the most formal way (putting the verb at the beginning and adding a rising intonation at the end) is very typical for dialects/informal speech of northeastern Slovenia (Maribor, Ptuj, Murska Sobota or, well, the Podravje and Pomurje regions).


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