Breakdown of Jeśli będziesz mówić po polsku, będziesz zarabiać więcej.
być
to be
mówić
to speak
jeśli
if
po polsku
in Polish (of speaking, reading, understanding)
więcej
more
zarabiać
to earn
Questions & Answers about Jeśli będziesz mówić po polsku, będziesz zarabiać więcej.
Why does the Polish sentence use the future tense (będziesz mówić) in the "if" part, while English uses the present tense ("If you speak")?
In English, we often use the present tense after "if" even when talking about the future. Polish is strictly logical here: if the condition is about the future, you must use the future tense after jeśli. It literally translates to "If you will speak Polish..."
Can I use jeżeli instead of jeśli here?
Yes, jeśli and jeżeli both mean "if" and are completely interchangeable. Jeśli is just a bit shorter and slightly more common in everyday speech.
Could I say będziesz mówił or będziesz mówiła instead of będziesz mówić?
Exactly! The Polish future tense for imperfective verbs is made with a future form of "to be" (będziesz) plus either the infinitive (mówić) or the past-tense form (mówił for a man, mówiła for a woman). They mean the exact same thing, but using the infinitive is easier since it doesn't change based on gender.
Why do we say po polsku instead of just using the noun for "Polish"?
When talking about speaking, reading, or writing in a language, Polish uses the preposition po plus a special adverb form ending in -u. It literally means you are speaking "in the Polish way." You use this pattern for all languages, like po angielsku (English) or po hiszpańsku (Spanish).
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