Day 87: Forty Minutes of Peace
At their parents' flat in Wroc艂aw on their father's name day, Angelika (A), a young city councillor, greets her older brother Arek (B), who has just arrived by car from work.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a Polish word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Polish, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Sp贸藕ni艂e艣 si臋 na imieniny taty o czterdzie艣ci minut. Pewnie znowu przez m贸j buspas?
You're forty minutes late for Dad's name day. My bus lane's fault again, I suppose?
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B
Zgad艂a艣. Stoj膮c w korku, naliczy艂em kilkana艣cie autobus贸w, a w ka偶dym siedzia艂o najwy偶ej paru pasa偶er贸w.
You guessed it. Sitting in traffic, I counted a dozen or so buses, and each one had a handful of passengers at most.
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A
Paru, bo przez zaparowane szyby wi臋cej nie wida膰. W szczycie te autobusy wioz膮 kilkaset os贸b, a twoje auto jedn膮.
A handful, because you can't see any more through steamed-up windows. At rush hour those buses carry hundreds of people, and your car carries one.
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B
Bo nie mam wyboru. Z mojego osiedla autobus je藕dzi co p贸艂 godziny i staje przy ka偶dym s艂upie.
Because I've got no choice. From my estate the bus runs every half hour and stops at every lamp post.
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A
Od wrze艣nia je藕dzi co dziesi臋膰 minut, w艂a艣nie dzi臋ki buspasowi. Zasiadam w komisji transportu, wi臋c co艣 o tym wiem.
Since September it's run every ten minutes, precisely because of the bus lane. I sit on the transport committee, so I know a thing or two about it.
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B
No dobrze, wiem. Przystanek mam pod samym blokiem i codziennie rano mijam t臋 wiat臋, wyje偶d偶aj膮c z parkingu.
All right, I know. The stop's right outside my block, and I pass that shelter every morning, pulling out of the car park.
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A
To czemu nie wsiadasz? Dojazd skr贸ci艂by ci si臋 o kwadrans, i to bez nerw贸w.
Then why don't you get on? Your commute would be a quarter of an hour shorter, and stress-free at that.
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B
Bo w domu mam troje dzieci i psa, a w korku czterdzie艣ci minut 艣wi臋tego spokoju.
Because at home I've got three kids and a dog, and in traffic I get forty minutes of blessed peace.
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A
Czyli bronisz nie samochodu, tylko korka. Spokojnie, tego 偶adna uchwa艂a rady miasta ci nie odbierze.
So it's not your car you're defending, it's the traffic jam. Don't worry, no city council resolution will ever take that away from you.
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