Pić!

[elroy]

Cześć,

A sentence from my book: Oh, pić!...Czy mogę tu coś kupić?

I assume from the context that Pić! is a way to say "I'm really thirsty!" Am I right?

If so, is it common to do this with other infinitives? If you were really hungry, would you say "Oh, jeść!"?

If not, what could it mean here?

Dziękuję.

 

[iwi]

Yes, you are right, although it's not really common to say it in that way

Instead of 'Oh, pić!' we usually say '(Ale) chce mi się pić (jeść etc.)' or 'Ale jestem spragniony, głodny' etc.

 

[Thomas1]

Yeah, pić/jeść/spać/ mi się chce or its alterations are far more common in my neck of the woods. pić, jeść sound as if a kid who can't speak Polish well enough yet were asking for a drink/food.

You can sometimes come acrosss mi się chce used with a noun if you crave something, e.g.: truskawek mi się chce because you haven't eaten them for a long time and you really like them.


Tom

 

[vodevilja]

I does mean this, but it's not common to say it this way. Normally, it would rather be "jestem spragniony" (literally - [I'm thirsty"], or better: "chce mi się pić" [I want to drink] or "napiłbym się czegoś" [I'd fancy to drink (something)].

 

[dn88]

I guess someone who is so exhausted that he can hardly speak is more likely to say just one key word "Pić!" rather than form a compound sentence.

 

[cyanista]

I guess someone who is so exhausted that he can hardly speak is more likely to say just one key word "Pić!" rather than form a compound sentence.

Right, I'm imagining someone who has spent a week in the desert without water or a wounded man lying on a stretcher. I seem to remember they are supposed to say "Thirst! (Thiiirst!)" or "Thirsty!" in English, is that right?

In the course of a normal conversation someone could surely mimic such a pitiable state to achieve a humorous effect, but it can't be that common.

DISCLAIMER: Mind you, I don't speak Polish so I've based my assumptions on the previous posts and the corresponding expression in Russian.

 

[Jana337]

Yes, it sounds like crying for help. You can utter it in the company of our friends or family after you finally get back home on a sunny day, dehydrated and tired. It would be rather il-mannered otherwise. In Czech.

 

[vodevilja]

The really thirsty person wouldn't say "oh" In this case it's rather a slightly pathetic exclamation.

 

[beclija]

pić/jeść/spać/ mi się chce

Could you also say something similar without the modal, i.e. pije (or whatever is 3rd person singular of pić)mi się? Because, guess what, that's what you would most likely say in Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian (pije mi se/пије ми се).

 

[Thomas1]

The really thirsty person wouldn't say "oh" In this case it's rather a slightly pathetic exclamation.

Regardless the exclamation, I can't imagine someone urging this while buying a beverage when in need for quenching one's thirst unless the one is an impatient five year-old.

Besides even the sentence alone doesn't sound fine to me.
Czy mogę tu coś kupić?
If you're in a store you surely can, but does it really help us get what we want? The sntence alone can be used in some contexts but separately it's a tad convoluted, and makes me want to drop the other shoe.

If you twisted my arm I'd incline to use it after some modification:
Oh, pić!...Czy mogę tu kupić coś do picia?
Although, it wouldn't be my first choice in such a context.

Could you also say something similar without the modal, i.e. pije (or whatever is 3rd person singular of pić)mi się? Because, guess what, that's what you would most likely say in Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian (pije mi se/пије ми се).

No that's not plausible in Polish.

The full and correct form requires each part; does pije mi se/пије ми се really mean I want to drink?

Tom

 

[beclija]

The full and correct form requires each part; does pije mi se/пије ми се really mean I want to drink?

Tom

The good old translation problem. I wouldn't say that "I want to drink" is the best possible rendering of "pije mi se". You could of course also say "hoću/želim piti", but that's a different construction without the "to me" part. So maybe "I feel like drinking" is a better translation for "pije mi se"; also, "pije mi se" usually implies alcoholic drinks unless a direct object of "to drink" is specified, as in "pije mi se kava/kola/sok/čaj".
Some possibly irrelevant google figures:
"pije mi se": 3240
"hoće mi se piti": 1
"piti mi se hoće": 0

 

[elroy]

Thanks to everyone for your contributions. Very interesting. I don't think there's something like this in English, at least not that I'm familiar with (I don't think we'd use "thirsty!" or "thirst!" this way, Cyanista).

Oh, pić!...Czy mogę tu kupić coś do picia?
Although, it wouldn't be my first choice in such a context.

What context?

I didn't provide enough context for you to determine whether the sentence fits, did I? That's because I was only interested in the "oh, pić!" part and not the sentence that follows.

The context is that a guy who has just moved into his dorm is thirsty and says this to his new roommate. In English, the sentence would make a lot of sense and would sound completely natural: "Boy am I thirsty! Can I get something to drink around here?".

 

[Thomas1]

[...]
What context?

I didn't provide enough context for you to determine whether the sentence fits, did I? That's because I was only interested in the "oh, pić!" part and not the sentence that follows.

The context is that a guy who has just moved into his dorm is thirsty and says this to his new roommate. In English, the sentence would make a lot of sense and would sound completely natural: "Boy am I thirsty! Can I get something to drink around here?".

The one I described in my previous post.

Anyway, since you've given it now (and I feel compelled that I thought of asking for it ) Oh, pić!...Czy mogę tu coś kupić? I still think it sounds unnatural, esp. its beginning.
If you begin it with napiłbym się czegoś or (Ale) chce mi się pić it will come across well.



Tom


Footnote: I'd go even further and modify it a little:
Ale mi się pić chce, można tu coś kupić? (the czy mogę option sounds too formal to me--however, I'm looking forward to reading other comments from Polish speakers).