potrafić
Polish
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom po- + trafić.[1][2] First attested in 1544.[3] Compare Czech potrefit, Kashubian pòtrafic, Masurian potrasicz, Carpathian Rusyn потрафити (potrafyty), Silesian potrefić, Serbo-Croatian pòtrefiti/по̀трефити, and Slovak potrafiť.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /pɔtˈra.fit͡ɕ/
- (Middle Polish) IPA(key): /pɔˈtra.fit͡ɕ/
Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -afit͡ɕ
- Syllabification: pot‧ra‧fić
Verb
editpotrafić impf or pf (imperfective (obsolete) potrafiać)[4][5]
- (intransitive, auxiliary) to know how, to be able to, can (to have enough skill, strength, means, or ability to do something) [+infinitive = to do what]
- Synonym: umieć
- (intransitive, auxiliary, of objects) to be able to, can (to be designed for something) [+infinitive = to do what]
- (intransitive, auxiliary) to be able to, can (to do something regularly, usually considered negative by the speaker) [+infinitive = to do what]
- (intransitive, auxiliary) to be able to, can (to go to certain limits in one's behavior or to reach a certain state) [+infinitive = to do what]
Verb
editpotrafić pf
- (transitive, obsolete) to capture likeness; to hit the mark (to draw or carve successfully)
- (transitive, obsolete) to hit the mark (to succeed, to manage to do)
- Synonyms: dokazać, poradzić sobie, zaradzić
- (transitive, Middle Polish) to meet, to come across, to find
- Synonyms: spotkać, natknąć się, znaleźć
- (transitive, Middle Polish) to achieve, to get
- (transitive, Middle Polish) to hit
- (transitive, Middle Polish) to happen to someone, to meet
- (transitive, Middle Polish) to reach, to get somewhere
- Synonym: dostać się
- (reflexive with się, Middle Polish) to occur, to happen, to ensue
- Synonyms: przydarzyć się, zdarzyć się, zaistnieć
- (reflexive with się, Middle Polish, of people) to appear, to show up
- Synonym: zjawić się
- (reflexive with się, Middle Polish) to meet, to meet up, to meet each other
- Synonym: spotkać się
Usage notes
editComplex future forms such as będzie potrafić/potrafił(a/o) are proscribed. Instead only the simple future potrafi or będzie umieć/umiał(a/o) are prescribed.
The active adjectival participle potrafiący is also proscribed, instead either a subordinate clause with który or umiejący are prescribed.
Conjugation
editDerived terms
editTrivia
editAccording to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), potrafić is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 21 times in scientific texts, 5 times in news, 17 times in essays, 32 times in fiction, and 36 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 111 times, making it the 553rd most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[6]
References
edit- ^ Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “trafić”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN
- ^ Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “potrafić”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
- ^ Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “potrafić”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
- ^ “potrafić”, in Słownik gramatyczny języka polskiego [Grammatical Dictionary of Polish], 2022
- ^ “potrafić”, in Słownik gramatyczny języka polskiego [Grammatical Dictionary of Polish], 2022
- ^ Ida Kurcz (1990) “potrafić”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language][1] (in Polish), volume 1, Kraków, Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 416
Further reading
edit- potrafić in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- potrafić in Polish dictionaries at PWN
- Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “potrafić się”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
- “POTRAFIĆ”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 14.01.2020
- Paweł Kupiszewski (14.01.2020) “POTRAFIĆ%20SIĘ”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century]
- Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “potrafić”, in Słownik języka polskiego[2]
- Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “potrafić”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861[3]
- A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1908), “potrafić”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 4, Warsaw, page 812
- potrafić in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego
- Polish terms prefixed with po-
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- Rhymes:Polish/afit͡ɕ
- Rhymes:Polish/afit͡ɕ/3 syllables
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