# Różnica między słowami a / i / oraz



## Roy776

Cześć wszystkim,

mam małe pytanie na różnicę między tymi słowami (a / i / oraz). Kiedy masz używać którego?
Na listach z piosenkarzami zawsze widziałem tylko *oraz*, nigdy *i*, ale jest jedno po prostu formalniejsze niż inne, czy mają inne znaczenia?

Z góry dziękuję za wasze odpowiedzi!


----------



## LilianaB

_Lubię jagody i banany _- everyday speech.

_Lubię jagody oraz banany _more formal.

_Pójdę do kina a później do kawiarni_. If this helps. _I _and _a_ are often intuitively used, but there must be some rules also.


----------



## Roy776

It seems I was right about *i* and *oraz* at least. Thank you. *A* seems to be used for connecting sentences, could that be it? Or at least one of its usages?


----------



## kknd

Roy776 said:


> It seems I was right about *i* and *oraz* at least. Thank you. *A* seems to be used for connecting sentences, could that be it? Or at least one of its usages?


one can also use _i_ and _oraz_ interchangebly to avoid repetitions… (in polish one has to use commas before repeated _i_ or _oraz_); word _a_ has several meanings (as conjunctions)…


----------



## dictis

According to this open source, *oraz* sounds sophisticated but shouldn't be used between adjectives. Also, from here (and after extensive use of GoogleTranslate), I gather that *oraz* is rather tricky to use correctly, and it's probably on its way out (so I will start using it!). They recommend that if you need a "and" conjunction and the terms compared are equivalent, you should use *i*.

And then there's *a*... It had been twisting my brain, so I needed to do some deep research (as, like LilianaB mention, most people use it intuitively, so not much help from native speakers unless they're crazy about grammar). This is what I found (translating the Dictionary of Polish Language):

1. "a conjunction linking sentences or expressions with *opposing content*, eg _On gra, a ona tańczy._ _Nauka a zabawa. _He plays and she dances. Science and fun. »
2. "a conjunction linking a sentence or an expression that *supplements the earlier information*, e.g. _Kwitły kwiaty, a nad nimi uwijały się pszczoły. _Flowers were blooming, and bees were working on them.»
3. "a conjunction linking the sentence expressing the *consequences* of what was mentioned earlier, eg _Zastąpię cię w pracy, a ty odpoczniesz. _I will replace you at work, and you will rest."
4. "a conjunction linking a sentence or other expression with a content *incompatible with what can be inferred from the preceding sentence*, eg. _Zjadł dużo, a ciągle był głodny. _He ate a lot and was still hungry.»
5. "a conjunction linking words of the same form, repeated to *emphasize* what is said in the sentence, eg. _Takie przykłady można mnożyć a mnożyć. _Such examples can be multiplied and multiplied.»
6. "a conjunction linking repeated indicative pronouns, used to make the given expression *not have a specific reference*, eg. _Nazywał się tak a tak. _It was called so-and-so."

A long and possibly confusing way of expanding on Roy776's intuition...


----------



## jasio

dictis said:


> According to this open source, *oraz* sounds sophisticated but shouldn't be used between adjectives. Also, from here (and after extensive use of GoogleTranslate), I gather that *oraz* is rather tricky to use correctly, and it's probably on its way out (so I will start using it!). They recommend that if you need a "and" conjunction and the terms compared are equivalent, you should use *i*.


Even, if there are subtle differences betweeen the two, for practical reasons you may safely assume that "i" and "oraz" mean exactly the same, with "i" being the first choice, with "oraz" being used mainly to avoid too many "i"s in one phrase or expression - and avoid using "oraz" between adjectives.



dictis said:


> And then there's *a*... It had been twisting my brain, so I needed to do some deep research (as, like LilianaB mention, most people use it intuitively, so not much help from native speakers unless they're crazy about grammar).


This one can indeed be a brain twister - like explaining to a foreigner differences between "ser", "estar" and "haber/hay" in Spanish. ;-)

The most important ar the first three points, and even the very first one. In general, if you may replace "and" with "but" with only a subtle change of meaning, you should probably want to use "a" rather than "i".


dictis said:


> 1. "a conjunction linking sentences or expressions with *opposing content*, eg _On gra, a ona tańczy._ _Nauka a zabawa. _He plays and she dances. Science and fun. »
> 2. "a conjunction linking a sentence or an expression that *supplements the earlier information*, e.g. _Kwitły kwiaty, a nad nimi uwijały się pszczoły. _Flowers were blooming, and bees were working on them.»
> 3. "a conjunction linking the sentence expressing the *consequences* of what was mentioned earlier, eg _Zastąpię cię w pracy, a ty odpoczniesz. _I will replace you at work, and you will rest."


The latter syntax was actually attested in the oldest phrase ever written in Polish: "Daj, ać ja pobruszę, a ty poczywaj" ('let me grind, and you may rest'). It is still in use though. 



dictis said:


> 5. "a conjunction linking words of the same form, repeated to *emphasize* what is said in the sentence, eg. _Takie przykłady można mnożyć a mnożyć. _Such examples can be multiplied and multiplied.»


This one sounds a bit archaic to me. Nowadays I would probably say "mnożyć i mnożyć".



dictis said:


> 6. "a conjunction linking repeated indicative pronouns, used to make the given expression *not have a specific reference*, eg. _Nazywał się tak a tak. _It was called so-and-so."


In practice it may be enough if you memorize that "so-and-so" translates to "tak a tak". ;-)

There are also some other examples, and the most confusing would probably be using "a" to mean "by" in multiplying, especially with small numerals ('dwa a trzy to sześć' = 'two by three is six' - though in this case you may also say "razy"), while "i" is used in a sum ('dwa i trzy to pięć' = 'two and three is five').


----------



## Europadia

Polecam: oraz - definicja, synonimy, przykłady użycia


----------



## Thomas1

jasio said:


> Even, if there are subtle differences betweeen the two, for practical reasons you may safely assume that "i" and "oraz" mean exactly the same, with "i" being the first choice, with "oraz" being used mainly to avoid too many "i"s in one phrase or expression - and avoid using "oraz" between adjectives.


I'd add that this applies to 'i' when used as an cumulative coordinating conjunction not an illative one. 
In case of the latter, even a comma is admitted:
_Padało(,) i weszli do środka. - It was raining, so they went in._
Here you wouldn't use the 'oraz'. It's not used this way in Polish. I see that 'and' in English also can be used in a similar way:
*2. *as a consequence: he fell down and cut his knee.
and

As to the former, the comma is never used:
_Ania zerwała jabłko i podała je Małgosi. - Ann picked an apple off and passed it on to Margaret._

Note that punctuation rules are different in the two languages in this respect.

Types of coordinating conjunctions:
Kinds of co-ordinating conjunctions




jasio said:


> This one can indeed be a brain twister - like explaining to a foreigner differences between "ser", "estar" and "haber/hay" in Spanish. ;-)
> 
> The most important ar the first three points, and even the very first one. In general, if you may replace "and" with "but" with only a subtle change of meaning, you should probably want to use "a" rather than "i".
> 
> The latter syntax was actually attested in the oldest phrase ever written in Polish: "Daj, ać ja pobruszę, a ty poczywaj" ('let me grind, and you may rest'). It is still in use though.


The 'a' is generally an adversative/comparative conjunction, so it could help if you can wrap your mind around this concept. The 'but', 'while', 'whereas' are often its good English equivalents.


----------

