50 Basic Polish Words Every Beginner Should Know (with Pronunciation)

Every language has a small set of words that do most of the work. In Polish, you can greet people, be polite, order a coffee and ask simple questions with the 50 words and phrases below. I have been teaching Polish for 10+ years to students from 70+ countries, and these are the words I teach first – each with a simple “say it like” guide, because Polish spelling scares people far more than it should.

Before you read on, listen to how the ten sound – this is me saying them:

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The PDF has the same 50 words with pronunciation and the reading tips on two printable pages. No sign-up needed – just save it or print it.

How to read Polish words: the 60-second guide

Polish looks intimidating because of letter combinations like sz, cz or dzi, but it is far more regular than English: each combination is always read the same way. Learn the ones below and you can read every word on this page – and most words in the language.

Two more rules and you are done. First, the stress almost always falls on the second-to-last syllable: dzię-KU-ję, prze-PRA-szam, do wi-DZE-nia. That is why the “say it like” column writes the stressed syllable in capitals. Second, consonants lose their voice at the end of a word and before a voiceless one, so też sounds like “tesh”, chleb (bread) like “khlep” and w prawo like “f PRA-vo”. Nobody will mind if you forget this one. For every letter with an example, see my guide to the Polish alphabet and pronunciation.

The 10 most important Polish words

Cześć opens and closes a conversation – it is both “hi” and “bye”, like the Italian “ciao”. Do widzenia literally means “until seeing (you again)”, from widzieć (to see) – it is the polite, formal goodbye. Tu and tutaj are the same word for “here” – one is simply longer. Przepraszam covers both “sorry” and “excuse me”, so one word is enough to apologise or to get someone’s attention. Nie ma za co is the standard reply to “thank you” – literally “there is nothing to thank for”. And proszę is the Swiss army knife of Polish: “please”, “here you are”, “you’re welcome” and, said with a question mark, “pardon?”.

Greetings and goodbyes

Polish has an informal and a formal register, and greetings are where you notice it first. Use cześć and na razie with friends; use dzień dobry and do widzenia with everyone else – in a shop, at the office, with your partner’s parents.

Being polite

You will hear poproszę in every café and bakery in Poland: say it, then name what you want. Pan and pani are how Poles address people politely – instead of “you”, they say “does the gentleman / the lady speak English?”. It feels strange for a day and then becomes natural.

Small words that do a lot of work

These tiny words carry a surprising amount of conversation. Dobrze alone can mean “OK”, “fine”, “good” or “agreed”, and bardzo upgrades anything: bardzo dobrze, bardzo dziękuję.

Questions

With four question words and jest (is) you can ask for almost anything a beginner needs: where the station is, what this is, how much it costs, when the train leaves.

Numbers 1–10

Numbers come up constantly – prices, tickets, tables, hours. Notice how the noun changes from five upwards: dwa piwa but pięć piw (two beers, five beers). That is Polish cases at work; I explain what a beginner needs to know about them in my guide to the A1 level in Polish.

Food and drink

Four words and poproszę will get you through a café, a bakery and a bar. The ending of the noun changes after poproszę (kawa becomes kawę) – copy the examples and it will sound right.

Places and getting around

Ask with gdzie jest…? and listen for these words in the answer. If the answer comes too fast, say jeszcze raz, proszę (once more, please) – people are happy to repeat.

Time words

You do not need tenses to talk about time at the beginning: dzisiaj, jutro and teraz plus the present tense carry you a long way – Jutro jadę do Krakowa (“Tomorrow I am going to Kraków”) is perfectly good Polish.

Useful short phrases for beginners

Learn these three as whole chunks, without analysing the grammar. They buy you time, goodwill and – very often – a switch to English with a smile.

What to learn after these 50 words

Fifty words are a start, not a level. The next step is to put them into sentences, which means a little grammar: the present tense, the gender of nouns and the first cases. If you are wondering how much work that is, read my honest answer to Is Polish hard to learn? and the overview of what you need to know at the A1 level. If you are learning with an app, my review of Duolingo Polish explains what it teaches well and what it skips.

My self-paced online Polish courses for beginners take you step by step from these first words to the B1 level, with video lessons, interactive exercises, flashcards and audio sentences – trusted by 15,000+ students. And if you only want the list for now, download the free PDF and keep it on your phone.

Ready for whole sentences? See my useful Polish phrases for everyday situations – at the bakery, in a café, in Żabka and at ticket control, each with a short video.