Questions & Answers
Short answers to the questions people ask most often about Polish – how to say hello, how many cases there are, which syllable to stress – each one linked to the lesson that covers it properly. Every Polish word below comes with a recording, so you can hear it as well as read it.
Saying it in Polish
How do you say “hello” in Polish?
Cześć! The same word says goodbye, too.
How do you say “good morning” in Polish?
Dzień dobry! Dzień dobry covers good morning and good day alike.
How do you say “goodbye” in Polish?
Do widzenia!
How do you say “thank you” in Polish?
dziękuję
How do you say “please” in Polish?
proszę proszę does double duty: it is please and you’re welcome.
How do you say “yes” and “no” in Polish?
- tak – yes
- nie – no
How do you ask “how are you?” in Polish?
Jak się masz? / Co słychać?
How do you say “sorry” or “excuse me” in Polish?
Przepraszam!
How do you ask “do you speak English?” in Polish?
Czy mówisz po angielsku?
How do you say “cheers” in Polish?
Na zdrowie!
How do you say “I love you” in Polish?
kocham cię
Dozens more greetings, farewells and everyday phrases – all of them recorded – are on Saying hello and goodbye in Polish and across the rest of Polish words & phrases.
The alphabet and pronunciation
How many letters does the Polish alphabet have?
32 – 23 consonants and 9 vowels. They are Latin letters, the ones you already write, plus a handful carrying Polish diacritics. The full table, with a recording for every letter, is on Polish alphabet & pronunciation.
Which letters does Polish have that English does not?
Nine: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź and ż. Polish also writes seven letter combinations that are spoken as a single sound (ch, cz, dz, dź, dż, rz, sz) – both sets are explained on Polish alphabet & pronunciation.
Which syllable is stressed in Polish?
The second to last one, in almost every Polish word. That one rule gets you most of the way; the exceptions are on Polish alphabet & pronunciation.
How do you pronounce “Mówić po polsku”?
Moo-Veech po polskoo. It means “speaking (in) Polish” – and now you know your first three Polish words.
Polish grammar
How many cases does Polish have?
Seven: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative and vocative. Each one has its own lesson with endings and worked examples under Cases in the Polish language.
How many tenses does Polish have?
Three: present, past and future. Fewer than English has, though the past tense asks you to watch the gender of the person speaking.
Does Polish have articles?
No. There is no a and no the. Noun endings do that work instead, and they are also what marks a noun’s grammatical gender – which is why the nominative is the case to learn first.
How do you count in Polish?
The numbers, ordinal numbers and fractions are all on Numbers in Polish, each with a recording. One thing to expect: like nearly all Polish words, numbers adapt to the grammatical gender of the noun they are counting.
Learning Polish here
Is Mówić po polsku free?
Yes. Every lesson, every recording and the vocabulary trainer are free, and there is no account to create.
Where should I start?
With the alphabet and pronunciation – Polish spelling is regular, so once you can read it aloud, everything after it is easier. Then pick up words and phrases by topic, and come to grammar when the endings start to puzzle you.
Are the Polish words spoken by a real person?
Yes – more than a thousand professional voice recordings, made for this site. Wherever you see a play button next to a Polish word, that is a person saying it, not a machine.
Can I put the vocabulary trainer on my own website?
Yes, free of charge. The vocabulary trainer widget drops into any web page and can be configured to the topics you want. There are printable cheat sheets under Downloads & Widgets, too.
What happened to the question forum?
It closed. The forum ran on a plugin that is no longer part of this site, and the questions it collected are not coming back. This page took its place: the questions people were actually asking, answered here and linked to the lesson that goes into detail.