Home / Learn Polish
Learn Polish
Short, practical guides for English speakers. Start with the phrases and numbers, then learn how cases and verbs work. Every Polish word in a guide links to its own page with all its forms.
Vocabulary by topic
- Basic Polish PhrasesThe phrases visitors use most are dzień dobry (hello), dziękuję (thank you), proszę (please), przepraszam (excuse me,…
- Polish GreetingsSay dzień dobry (formal hello, used from morning until evening) to anyone you don't know well, and cześć (hi, also bye)…
- Polish NumbersPolish numbers are built like English ones: twenty-one is dwadzieścia jeden, tens first, then units. The tricky part is…
- Days of the Week in PolishThe Polish days are poniedziałek, wtorek, środa, czwartek, piątek, sobota and niedziela, written with a small letter.…
- Months and Seasons in PolishThe Polish months, from styczeń (January) to grudzień (December), are old Slavic words and are written with a small…
- Telling Time in PolishAsk <span lang="pl">Która jest godzina?</span> and answer with a feminine ordinal: <span lang="pl">Jest piąta</span>…
- Colors in PolishThe basic colors in Polish are czerwony (red), niebieski (blue), zielony (green), żółty (yellow), czarny (black) and…
- Family Members in PolishThe basic Polish family words are mama (mum), tata (dad), brat (brother), siostra (sister), babcia (grandma) and…
- Body Parts in PolishThe key Polish body words are głowa (head), oko (eye), ręka (hand, arm), noga (leg, foot) and brzuch (stomach). To say…
- Polish Food and Drink WordsThe food words you will use most in Polish are chleb (bread), woda (water), kawa (coffee), piwo (beer) and pierogi. To…
- Polish Question WordsThe core Polish question words are <span lang="pl">kto</span> (who), <span lang="pl">co</span> (what), <span…
Grammar and pronunciation
- Polish Alphabet and PronunciationThe Polish alphabet has 32 letters, including nine with marks: <span lang="pl">ą ę ć ł ń ó ś ź ż</span>. Spelling is…
- Polish Cases ExplainedPolish has seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative and vocative. A noun changes…
- Polish Noun GendersEvery Polish noun is masculine, feminine or neuter, and the ending usually tells you which. Most nouns ending in a…
- Polish Present TensePolish has one present tense for both “I read” and “I am reading”. Learn four ending patterns, the verbs być and mieć,…
- Polish Past TenseTo form the Polish past tense, drop the -ć from the infinitive, add -ł, -ła, -ło, -li or -ły for gender and number,…
- Polish Verb Aspect: Perfective and ImperfectiveMost Polish verbs come in pairs. The imperfective verb shows an action as a process or habit (robić, to be doing), and…