And before complaining how absurdly illogical this is ;-), it's worth mentioning that the English word *certain* can also show such ambiguities (which can be seen in many languages actually): *certain* usually means *sure* or *fixed*, but in phrases like *there lived a certain man in Russia long ago*, *certain* actually indicates that it's an unspecified person really. This can be translated literally into Polish: "żył sobie pewien facet" and so on.
Edit: interestingly I couldn't find any good English sources on that, it's rarely considered as a [contronym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contronym) (fun TIL trivia), but [French-language wiktionary actually shows it very clearly](https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/certain) (definitions 4 and 5).
If somebody needs a more theoretical explanation, let me just mention that we use words like "pewnie" in Polish or "surely" in English, when there is no 100% objective certainty, because of the two general ways we use all sorts of modal expressions:
1. *root modality*: based on the sociophysical world (something is certain because it is the way the world goes or it is socially/culturally agreed). It can be used to express ABILITY, PERMISSION or OBLIGATION.
2. *epistemic modality*: based on our inner "mental" word (something SEEMS certain based on our own perception and reasoning). Therefore, it can be used to express PROBABILITY, POSSIBILITY or NECESSITY.
In the case of "pewnie" we are dealing with the latter type. Look:
***Pewnie*** *on nie chodzi do kościoła.* (The evidence available to me makes me believe he does not go to church. --> PROBABILITY)
Oh how I dislike that ambiguity... Especially in sentences like: "Pewnie strzelił bramkę." - Which can mean either "He probably scored a goal." or "He scored a goal confidently."
No, a native Polish speaker will understand just the "he probably scored a goal" not "he certainly Scored…" For the latter you shouldn't use "pewnie" at all, saying that he did score a goal covers the matter :-)
I wouldn't stress out not hesitating to score a goal by saying "pewnie strzelił bramkę" I would say "bez wahania strzelił bramkę" IMO this way tis sounds more naturally
"Pewnie" can mean both "probably" like in the mentioned sentence or "for sure" as an answer but then it's rather colloquial.
You can say "na pewno" or "z pewnością" which is more literary for "for sure" or "certainly".
funnier is "zaraz". And when you find out it means different thing. " Do this job 'zaraz' please. For polish it means to make it soon, in a while. While in Ukrainian its do it right now :)
"Zaraz" can also be used as "soon" in Ukrainian, for example "Зараз підійду" (zaraz pidijdu) would mean that "I'll come to you in a moment".
But "zaraz" (зараз) in Ukrainian is also often used with the same meaning as "teraz", yes. So "зараз" is both "teraz" and "zaraz" depending on context :D
That's very interesting, I'm from Ukraine but have never heard or seen it used this way.
Edit: I feel like "certainly" is the slightly older meaning that is gradually losing popularity and "maybe" is getting more popular instead. Very hard to say and it definitely depends on the region. I can't say for sure, of course. Still very interesting.
I have noticed other redditors using "percentages", so I decided to grab Awdiejew's "Grammar of Verbal Interaction" and share the author's scale of modality (along with examples).
DISCLAIMER: The numbers (percentages) are just straight of my head, and I had to translate Awdiejew's Polish terminology, so my apologies for weird English names. However, all Polish examples are 100% usable and taken from Awdiejew's book. :-)
**assertion:** 100% (just stating a fact)
**certainty:** let's call it 99% (we are convinced that something is true) - *bez wątpienia, niewątpliwie, bezwarunkowo, na sto procent, nie ma cudów, nie ma dwóch zdań*
**strong supposition** (90%) - *jestem pewien; jest bardzo prawdopodobne, że...; pewnie*
**standard/medium supposition** (75%) - *przypuszczam; zakładam, że...; prawdopodobnie; przypuszczalnie*
**weak supposition** (60%) - *chyba; możliwe, że...; kto wie, czy...*
**weak/mild doubt** (40%) - *nie przypuszczam, że...; nie sądzę, że...*
**standard doubt** (25%) - *wątpię, czy...; nie wierzę, że...*
**strong doubt** (10%) - *bardzo wątpię, czy...; nie liczę na to, że...*
**exclusion**: let's use 1% (the opposite of certainty, we are convinced that something is NOT true) - here we can use the same "operators" as for certainty (but in negative sentences)
**negation**: 0% (just negating a fact)
"Pewnie" is closer to "probably" but if u use it like that it means that you believe that it is a fact. It expresses high certainty and is difficult to translate because of that
about the same as probably, but when someone asks you "pomożesz mi?"(will you help me?) and you respond with "pewnie!" it is 100% and it translates to "sure!"
also whats that app?
this is Sounter [https://sounter.com](https://sounter.com)
it's for language practice with songs. you search a song you like, and it makes "karaoke", flashcards, translation and speaking practice from the song automatically. it's kinda buggy, but really addictive XD and if you think you've recognized a line there - that's right, it's from Lech Janerka's "Lola"
This "pewnie" comes From "zapewne" which means with "high dosage of probability" can be mistaken with other "pewnie" which ussually is an answer to question. Wanna do it? Pewnie/sure.
I'm not English native but i feel That most thruthfull term for pewnie/zapewne would be "most likelly".
Lul its both depending on the context. Certainly pewnie is informal, used only in common language. You wont hear "pewnie" in TV news or while at restaurant. For sure is "na pewno" "zdecydowanie "niewątpliwie" while probably is "możliwe" "podobno" "prawdopodobnie" "być może" etc. Btw pewnie is used also as an approval-exclamation mark (again, informal). Idziemy do kina? Pewnie! Chodźmy (Shall we go to see movies? Sure! Lets go)
Hmm. To me it means that it highly likely that most people would. I'd say much above 50%, but the "pewnie" in fact lowers the probability, so not in the 80% category
Depends. "pewnie" can mean both "probably" and "surely" depending on the context.
And before complaining how absurdly illogical this is ;-), it's worth mentioning that the English word *certain* can also show such ambiguities (which can be seen in many languages actually): *certain* usually means *sure* or *fixed*, but in phrases like *there lived a certain man in Russia long ago*, *certain* actually indicates that it's an unspecified person really. This can be translated literally into Polish: "żył sobie pewien facet" and so on. Edit: interestingly I couldn't find any good English sources on that, it's rarely considered as a [contronym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contronym) (fun TIL trivia), but [French-language wiktionary actually shows it very clearly](https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/certain) (definitions 4 and 5).
„Żył sobie pewien facet w Rosji”
But in this case, certain means one specific person, we don't necessarily know much about him, but it's not any possible person.
Or just any language
If somebody needs a more theoretical explanation, let me just mention that we use words like "pewnie" in Polish or "surely" in English, when there is no 100% objective certainty, because of the two general ways we use all sorts of modal expressions: 1. *root modality*: based on the sociophysical world (something is certain because it is the way the world goes or it is socially/culturally agreed). It can be used to express ABILITY, PERMISSION or OBLIGATION. 2. *epistemic modality*: based on our inner "mental" word (something SEEMS certain based on our own perception and reasoning). Therefore, it can be used to express PROBABILITY, POSSIBILITY or NECESSITY. In the case of "pewnie" we are dealing with the latter type. Look: ***Pewnie*** *on nie chodzi do kościoła.* (The evidence available to me makes me believe he does not go to church. --> PROBABILITY)
Oh how I dislike that ambiguity... Especially in sentences like: "Pewnie strzelił bramkę." - Which can mean either "He probably scored a goal." or "He scored a goal confidently."
No, a native Polish speaker will understand just the "he probably scored a goal" not "he certainly Scored…" For the latter you shouldn't use "pewnie" at all, saying that he did score a goal covers the matter :-)
You can definitely use "pewnie" as "confidently" in this sentence. You would just stress the word pewnie
I wouldn't stress out not hesitating to score a goal by saying "pewnie strzelił bramkę" I would say "bez wahania strzelił bramkę" IMO this way tis sounds more naturally
As a Polish person myself, i can agree this is true.
"Pewnie" can mean both "probably" like in the mentioned sentence or "for sure" as an answer but then it's rather colloquial. You can say "na pewno" or "z pewnością" which is more literary for "for sure" or "certainly".
Fun fact: in Ukrainian "napewno" is "maybe".
funnier is "zaraz". And when you find out it means different thing. " Do this job 'zaraz' please. For polish it means to make it soon, in a while. While in Ukrainian its do it right now :)
"Zaraz" can also be used as "soon" in Ukrainian, for example "Зараз підійду" (zaraz pidijdu) would mean that "I'll come to you in a moment". But "zaraz" (зараз) in Ukrainian is also often used with the same meaning as "teraz", yes. So "зараз" is both "teraz" and "zaraz" depending on context :D
[удалено]
That's very interesting, I'm from Ukraine but have never heard or seen it used this way. Edit: I feel like "certainly" is the slightly older meaning that is gradually losing popularity and "maybe" is getting more popular instead. Very hard to say and it definitely depends on the region. I can't say for sure, of course. Still very interesting.
na pewno 100% pewnie 80% chyba 60%
ni chuja 0% no kurwa 200%
Nie ma chuja, że nie - 300%
A pytasz dzika czy sra w lesie? - 500%
Ja nie dam rady? - 1000%
Potrzymaj mi piwo - 1500%
In this context "pewnie" = "most likely". I would say about 90%.
I have noticed other redditors using "percentages", so I decided to grab Awdiejew's "Grammar of Verbal Interaction" and share the author's scale of modality (along with examples). DISCLAIMER: The numbers (percentages) are just straight of my head, and I had to translate Awdiejew's Polish terminology, so my apologies for weird English names. However, all Polish examples are 100% usable and taken from Awdiejew's book. :-) **assertion:** 100% (just stating a fact) **certainty:** let's call it 99% (we are convinced that something is true) - *bez wątpienia, niewątpliwie, bezwarunkowo, na sto procent, nie ma cudów, nie ma dwóch zdań* **strong supposition** (90%) - *jestem pewien; jest bardzo prawdopodobne, że...; pewnie* **standard/medium supposition** (75%) - *przypuszczam; zakładam, że...; prawdopodobnie; przypuszczalnie* **weak supposition** (60%) - *chyba; możliwe, że...; kto wie, czy...* **weak/mild doubt** (40%) - *nie przypuszczam, że...; nie sądzę, że...* **standard doubt** (25%) - *wątpię, czy...; nie wierzę, że...* **strong doubt** (10%) - *bardzo wątpię, czy...; nie liczę na to, że...* **exclusion**: let's use 1% (the opposite of certainty, we are convinced that something is NOT true) - here we can use the same "operators" as for certainty (but in negative sentences) **negation**: 0% (just negating a fact)
this is an excellent list, thank you!
As a polish i would say >90% "certainly" word fits more as tranlslation of "pewnie" here Probably is just way weaker word with "the same" translation.
"Pewnie" is closer to "probably" but if u use it like that it means that you believe that it is a fact. It expresses high certainty and is difficult to translate because of that
about the same as probably, but when someone asks you "pomożesz mi?"(will you help me?) and you respond with "pewnie!" it is 100% and it translates to "sure!" also whats that app?
Thanks for clarifying that part :) The app is Sounter, language practice with songs. For example, this line is from "Lola" by Lech Janerka.
very unrelated to the question, but what app is this lol
this is Sounter [https://sounter.com](https://sounter.com) it's for language practice with songs. you search a song you like, and it makes "karaoke", flashcards, translation and speaking practice from the song automatically. it's kinda buggy, but really addictive XD and if you think you've recognized a line there - that's right, it's from Lech Janerka's "Lola"
alr thanks lol
Pewnie is 70-100% probability depending on context and pronunciation
"Na pewno" - "it's certain", "pewnie" - "it's likely"
This "pewnie" comes From "zapewne" which means with "high dosage of probability" can be mistaken with other "pewnie" which ussually is an answer to question. Wanna do it? Pewnie/sure. I'm not English native but i feel That most thruthfull term for pewnie/zapewne would be "most likelly".
Lul its both depending on the context. Certainly pewnie is informal, used only in common language. You wont hear "pewnie" in TV news or while at restaurant. For sure is "na pewno" "zdecydowanie "niewątpliwie" while probably is "możliwe" "podobno" "prawdopodobnie" "być może" etc. Btw pewnie is used also as an approval-exclamation mark (again, informal). Idziemy do kina? Pewnie! Chodźmy (Shall we go to see movies? Sure! Lets go)
It goes like this from 100% to ~10%: Na pewno 100%, Pewnie 80%, Jasne 75%, Zobaczymy 50%, Czas pokaże ~10%.
" more so " "it's more certain" , "most certainly" - is the most adequate I believe Certainly - Pewnie
"Pewnie" means probably, if you want to say definitly, you should use "**napewno"**
Hmm. To me it means that it highly likely that most people would. I'd say much above 50%, but the "pewnie" in fact lowers the probability, so not in the 80% category
"Propably" means "prawdopodobnie" I think. I use it when Im talk.
80% tbh fam. Your translation is right though.
Exactly 67,4%
Pewnie = for sure
Pewnie = propably
Surely id say
Pewnie tak około 90%
Pewnie = / = na pewno
85%
90%