False friends for Polish speakers: sympathetic, actually, eventually and the rest

What it sounds like

What the mistake looks like

A false friend is an English word that looks like a Polish one and means something else. The sentence comes out grammatical, confident and wrong. “She's very sympathetic” sounds perfectly normal to an English speaker. It just says she is kind to you when things go badly, not that she is good company.

That makes false friends worse than grammar mistakes: nobody stops you. The listener hears a real English sentence, understands something you didn't mean, and the conversation moves on. “Actually, I work in a hotel” sounds like you are correcting them, not telling them about your current job. “Eventually we can meet on Friday” promises Friday after a long wait, not Friday as one option.

Why Polish speakers fall for them

Polish and English share thousands of words from Latin, Greek and French, and most of them are honest: „telefon” is telephone, „problem” is problem. So learners trust the resemblance, and most of the time they are right to. False friends are the few words whose meanings drifted apart.

„Aktualnie” comes from „aktualny”, current: „Aktualnie pracuję w hotelu.” English went another way: actual means real, and actually means in fact. „Ewentualnie” means possibly, or alternatively: „Możemy się spotkać w piątek, ewentualnie w sobotę.” English eventually means in the end, after a long time. „Sympatyczny” describes a pleasant person. Sympathetic describes someone who shares your feelings, or supports your idea.

Several of these words describe people and opinions, so they turn up exactly when you are chatting, introducing someone or saying what you think: the moments when a misunderstanding is most awkward.

The ones worth knowing

Sympathetic = współczujący, wyrozumiały, przychylny: “She was very sympathetic when my father was ill.” For „sympatyczny”, say nice, friendly or likeable.

Actually = właściwie, tak naprawdę: “He seems shy, but actually he's very friendly.” For „aktualnie”, say currently, at the moment or now. In the same way, actual is „rzeczywisty, faktyczny”, and „aktualny” is current or up to date.

Eventually = w końcu, ostatecznie: “We waited an hour and eventually the bus came.” For „ewentualnie”, say possibly, alternatively, if necessary, or just or.

Pathetic = żałosny: “What a pathetic excuse.” For „patetyczny”, say pompous or overblown. Calling a friend's wedding speech pathetic is a much harsher review than you meant.

Lecture = wykład, and also a telling-off: “My mum gave me a lecture about money.” For „lektura”, say reading, or a set book for school.

Receipt = paragon, pokwitowanie. Recipe = przepis. For „recepta”, say prescription. So you ask for the receipt at the till, hand over the prescription at the chemist and follow the recipe in the kitchen.

Three more: genial means warm and cheerful („genialny” is brilliant), ordinary means „zwykły” („ordynarny” is vulgar or rude), and pension means „emerytura” („pensja” is salary).

How to fix it

For learners: learn the English word for the Polish idea, not the other way round. Write „sympatyczny → nice, friendly” on your card, not „sympathetic”. The aim is to reach for the right word first, so the wrong one never gets a chance.

Learn each word in a sentence that shows what it means: “Eventually, after three buses, we got home.” A sentence carries the meaning. A pair of words only carries the spelling.

When an English word looks exactly like a Polish one, check it once in a good dictionary before you use it somewhere that matters, like an email to your landlord. Better to find out at your desk than in a job interview.

For teachers: don't hand out a list of twenty false friends to learn in one go. Take the two or three that belong to the topic of the lesson and let them come up in speaking. When a learner says “she's very sympathetic”, ask a question that shows the real meaning: “Was she sorry for you?” The penny drops faster than it would after an explanation.

How lesson B2.3 works on it

Lesson B2.3, “In spite of the rent”, takes 60 minutes. Marta and Tomek sit at the kitchen table with a rent statement between them and argue about whether to stay on Mill Street. Its grammar is concession: although, despite, in spite of, and saying that the other side has a point while keeping your own.

It isn't a false-friends lesson, but it tests three of the commonest ones. In the final exercise, “Eight of these are wrong”, three of Marta and Tomek's sentences carry a false friend: “the rent actually” where Polish „aktualnie” means now, “their street is sympathetic” where „sympatyczny” means friendly, and “one more year here, or eventually two” where „ewentualnie” means possibly. The key explains each one against the Polish word.

The teacher notes also expect „ewentualnie” to surface as eventually while pairs describe the picture at the start, and suggest saying the line back with possibly rather than stopping to explain. Pathetic, lecture and receipt from this article are not in the lesson.

Check yourself

Choose the right word in brackets.

1. Our new neighbour is really ___: she's fun and easy to talk to. (sympathetic / nice)
   Answer

   nice

2. Is this bus timetable still ___? (actual / up to date)
   Answer

   up to date

3. The train was very late, but ___ we got there. (eventually / possibly)
   Answer

   eventually

4. Keep the ___ in case you want to return the shoes. (recipe / receipt)
   Answer

   receipt

5. When my father was ill, my manager was very ___ and let me go home early. (sympathetic / pathetic)
   Answer

   sympathetic

6. We could take the bus or, ___, a taxi. (eventually / alternatively)
   Answer

   alternatively

7. I have a ___ at nine: economics, room 12. (lecture / reading)
   Answer

   lecture

8. She thinks she's shy, but ___ she talks to everyone. (actually / currently)
   Answer

   actually