Feelings and Emotions in Polish

To say how you feel, use jestem with an adjective that matches your gender: a man says "Jestem zmęczony" (I'm tired), a woman says "Jestem zmęczona". For cold and hot, Polish says "Jest mi zimno" (I'm cold) and "Jest mi gorąco" (I'm hot).

Jak się czujesz? How are you feeling?

To ask how someone feels, say Jak się czujesz? (informal) or Jak się pan czuje? / Jak się pani czuje? (formal). The answer uses czuję się (I feel) with an adverb, not an adjective.

Don't answer Jestem dobry. That means "I'm a good person" or "I'm good at it". Czuję się dobrze or just Dobrze is right.

I'm happy, I'm tired: gendered forms

With jestem (I am), the adjective changes with the gender of the speaker. A man says Jestem zmęczony, a woman says Jestem zmęczona. Most adjectives end in -y for a man and -a for a woman. You can also say Czuję się zmęczony / zmęczona (I feel tired).

• Jestem bardzo szczęśliwa.
  I'm very happy. (woman)
• Jestem trochę zmęczony.
  I'm a bit tired. (man)
• Byłam zła na niego.
  I was angry with him. (woman)
• Jesteś głodny?
  Are you hungry? (to a man)

In the plural, a group with at least one man uses -i forms, often with a sound change: zmęczeni, szczęśliwi, smutni, źli. A group of only women uses -e: zmęczone, szczęśliwe, smutne, złe. So a couple says Jesteśmy zmęczeni.

I'm cold, I'm hot: jest mi zimno

For physical sensations and some moods, Polish does not say "I am cold". It says "it is cold to me": jest mi zimno. Mi is the dative form of "I". The words stay the same for men and women, because the feeling is not described with an adjective about you.

Change mi to talk about other people: ci (you), mu (him), jej (her), nam (us), wam (you all), im (them). In formal speech use panu (to a man) or pani (to a woman). In the past tense jest becomes było.

• Jest ci zimno?
  Are you cold?
• Dziecku jest gorąco.
  The child is hot.
• Wczoraj było mi bardzo zimno.
  I was very cold yesterday.
• Zimno mi.
  I'm cold. (shorter, very common)
• Czy jest panu zimno?
  Are you cold? (formal, to a man)

Jestem zimny is wrong here. It describes you as a cold, unfriendly person or something cold to the touch.

Emotions as nouns

These nouns name the feelings themselves. They are useful for reading, songs and talking about feelings in general.

Szczęście means both happiness and luck: Masz szczęście! means "You're lucky!"

Feeling verbs

Many feelings are expressed with verbs, often with się. Each one comes with its own preposition or case, so learn them as phrases.

Common reactions and expressions

These short phrases come up all the time in conversation and messages.