Basic Polish Words and Phrases for Beginners (With Pronunciation)

The basic Polish words to learn first are dzień dobry (jen DOH-brih, hello), cześć (cheshch, hi), dziękuję (jen-KOO-yeh, thank you), proszę (PROH-sheh, please), przepraszam (psheh-PRAH-shahm, excuse me), tak (tahk, yes) and nie (nyeh, no). In every respelling below, capitals mark the stress, which Polish puts on the second-to-last syllable.

How Polish sounds: a cheat sheet for English speakers

Polish spelling looks scary, but it is consistent: once you know what each letter or letter pair does, you can read almost any word out loud. These are the ones that fool English readers.

Stress. Polish stresses the second-to-last syllable of nearly every word: prze-PRA-szam, dzię-KU-ję. A few loanwords break the rule, such as muzyka (music), said MOO-zih-kah. Endings go voiceless. A b, d, g, w, z or ż at the end of a word comes out as p, t, k, f, s or sh, so klub (club) sounds like "kloop". Don't stress about the rolled r: your own r is understood.

Hello and goodbye: cześć vs dzień dobry

The trap: cześć is not a neutral "hello". It is only for people you are on first-name terms with: friends, family, colleagues who already call you by your first name. Say it to a shopkeeper, a ticket inspector or your partner's grandmother and it lands as too familiar. With strangers and anyone older, use dzień dobry during the day and dobry wieczór in the evening, then do widzenia when you leave. More set greetings with audio are on the Polish greetings page.

Pan and Pani: the polite "you"

Polish has a casual "you" (ty) and a polite one that is literally "sir" and "madam": pan (to a man, pahn) and pani (to a woman, PAH-nee). The polite form takes the same verb as he or she, so you are grammatically asking about "the gentleman".

Use pan and pani with anyone you would greet with dzień dobry. To get a stranger's attention, proszę pana (PROH-sheh PAH-nah) or proszę pani (PROH-sheh PAH-nee) works like "excuse me, sir" and "excuse me, ma'am".

Thank you, please, sorry: the many jobs of proszę

Proszę is the most useful word in the language. Ask for something with it, hand something over with it, answer someone's dziękuję with it, and say it as a question (Proszę?) when you didn't catch what was said. It also means "come in!" when you invite someone into a room. When ordering, poproszę is the natural choice: Poproszę piwo (A beer, please), Dwa piwa, proszę (Two beers, please).

Przepraszam covers both "sorry" and "excuse me", so use it to apologize, to get past someone on a tram, or to open a question: Przepraszam, gdzie jest toaleta? (Excuse me, where is the restroom?)

Yes, no and the "no" trap

Watch out: in casual speech no means "yeah" or "yep", not "no". If a Polish friend answers your question with "No!", they are agreeing. It also works as a filler, like "well". The real no is nie, which is also the word for "not": Nie rozumiem (I don't understand).

Survival phrases for travelers

Na zdrowie does two jobs: it is the toast before a drink (cheers), and it is also what you say when someone sneezes (bless you). Smacznego is the Polish bon appétit: say it to people who are about to eat. For full ordering dialogues, see the restaurant phrases, and for tickets and stations the travel phrases.

Numbers 1 to 10

Notice how much of the cheat sheet shows up here: w as v in dwa, rz as sh after t in trzy, cz in cztery, and ę before ć giving the "-ench" of pięć, dziewięć and dziesięć.

False friends that catch English speakers

Ordynarny is the one to really avoid: calling a meal or a person ordynarny says vulgar, not plain. Sympatyczny goes the other way: it is a compliment for someone who is pleasant to be around, not a word for sympathy.

Say this today: five sentences

When these feel easy, the Polish stories show the same words in context, and the guide to learning Polish effectively covers what to study next. Polish sounds only stick when you say them, so practice them out loud with Polly, the PollyStop tutor.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most basic Polish words to learn first?

Start with dzień dobry, cześć, do widzenia, dziękuję, proszę, przepraszam, tak and nie, then Nie rozumiem, Gdzie jest ...? and Ile kosztuje?, plus the numbers one to ten. Learn pan and pani early so you can be polite with strangers.

How do you pronounce dziękuję?

Say jen-KOO-yeh, with the stress on KOO. The dzi at the start is close to an English j, the ę before k sounds like en, and the final ę is a plain e.

Is cześć formal or informal?

Informal. Cześć is for friends, family and anyone on first-name terms, and it means both hi and bye. With strangers, older people and staff, say dzień dobry (or dobry wieczór in the evening) and do widzenia.

Does no mean no in Polish?

Not usually. In casual speech no means yeah or yep, and it also works as a filler like well. The Polish word for no is nie.