False friends: list is a letter, recepta is a prescription
A few Polish words look like English ones and mean something else. list is a letter; a list is lista. recepta is a doctor's prescription, not a recipe. pensja is a salary, not a pension. magazyn is usually a warehouse; the everyday word for a magazine is czasopismo. For example: “uroda” — uroda — beauty (no English look-alike: learn it by meaning). A rule from the Polish course: worked out on examples, not memorized…
How it works
A few Polish words look like English ones and mean something else. list is a letter; a list is lista. recepta is a doctor's prescription, not a recipe. pensja is a salary, not a pension. magazyn is usually a warehouse; the everyday word for a magazine is czasopismo.
Many everyday words give no clue at all: uroda is beauty, sklep is a shop, zapomnieć is to forget. Don't confuse that last one with zapamiętać — to memorise. Learn such words by meaning, not by look.
szukać means to look for: Szukam mieszkania — I am looking for a flat. The sz at the start sounds like English sh.
Table
| Polish | Means | Not — that is |
|---|---|---|
| list | a letter | a list — lista |
| recepta | a prescription | a recipe — przepis |
| pensja | a salary | a pension — emerytura |
| magazyn | usually a warehouse | a magazine — more often czasopismo |
| uroda | beauty | no look-alike: learn by meaning |
| sklep | a shop | no look-alike: learn by meaning |
| zapomnieć | to forget | to memorise — zapamiętać |
| szukać | to look for | no look-alike: learn by meaning |
By example
- urodauroda — beauty (no English look-alike: learn it by meaning)
- zapomniećzapomnieć — to forget (to memorise is "zapamiętać")
- sklepsklep — a shop (no English look-alike)
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
False friends: how does it work in Polish?
A few Polish words look like English ones and mean something else. list is a letter; a list is lista. recepta is a doctor's prescription, not a recipe. pensja is a salary, not a pension. magazyn is usually a warehouse; the everyday word for a magazine is czasopismo.
What does it look like in a Polish example sentence?
“uroda” — uroda — beauty (no English look-alike: learn it by meaning). A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.