A Polish Vocabulary List For Learners
If you don’t know where to start learning Polish, we made a Polish vocabulary list for you. You can use this as your personal list for vocabulary recap every week. The Polish words are listed by how often they are used. We also provide you with detailed grammatical information, and part of speech. We also provide you with IPA phonetic spelling, so you always know how to pronounce words correctly. Each entry comes with a bilingual sample sentence, so you can see them being used in context. They also provide you with bilingual reading practice.
MostUsedWords Frequency Dictionaries can be downloaded as ebooks from our website. They are also available as paperbacks on Amazon. These dictionaries provide vocabulary in various levels of fluency: beginners, intermediates, advanced, and near-fluent vocabulary for learners. These links above are affiliate links. Meaning, we might get a small commission if you make a purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you.
How Many Words Should You Know To Achieve Fluency At Different Levels?
Beginner – 250 to 500 words should suffice if you are just beginning to learn a language. You'll be able to hold basic conversations and navigate in tourist situations after just one week of studying. 500 words is enough to get you through everyday life in most languages.
Conversational – With only 1,000 to 3,000 words, you can communicate in almost all languages. You can then ask people about their day and tell them how you are doing.
Advanced – You will become more fluent in a language by learning between 4,000 and 10,000 words. This will allow you to use more specific vocabulary to discuss professional topics, current events, opinions and other complex topics.
Fluent – With around 10,000 words in your vocabulary, you can speak about almost any topic with ease. Additionally, you can recognize unfamiliar words with enough knowledge.
Native – Word counts in different languages are not the same, so it can be difficult to estimate how many words native speakers know. An estimate of the number of words a native English speaker could know ranges between 10,000 and 65,000+
Polish Vocabulary List
The Foundation
These are the most commonly used words you can find in the Polish vocabulary. This is the key on how you can construct the most basic sentences or answers to basic questions.
tak means “yes”
nie means “no”
czy rozumiesz? means “do you understand?”
nie rozumiem means “I don’t understand”
nie wiem means “I don’t know”
zgubiłem się means “I'm lost”
nie mam pojęcia means “I have no idea”
nie mówię po polsku means “I don’t speak Polish”
Introduce Yourself
Maybe you found yourself in a situation where you need to meet and chat with someone you don’t know. Here are some ways to introduce yourself to them:
Nazywam się… means “my name is…”
Jestem… means “I’m…”
jak masz na imię? means “what is your name?”
Jestem z… means “I am from…”
What’s Up
These are ways to ask someone what’s going on with their lives or a specific situation. You can use these Polish words and phrases to start small talks:
jak się masz? means “how are you?”
co tam? means “what’s up?”
jak leci? means “how‘s it going?”
co ty robisz? means “what are you doing?”
co się dzieje? means “what is happening?”
Etiquette Words
Etiquette can bring you to places around the world! Learn these polite Polish words:
Nie ma za co! means “you’re welcome!”
Proszę means “please”
wybaczcie mi means “excuse me”
przepraszam means “sorry”
Dziękuję Ci means “thank you”
na zdrowie means “bless you”
Essential Questions
These are the key questions you might use any time to any context:
co? means “what?”
kto? means “who?”
gdy? means “when?”
gdzie? means “where?”
Dlaczego? means “why?”
który? means “which?”
jak? means “how?”
Polish Pronouns
Pronouns are essential to make our sentences clearer, less awkward, and smoother. It is important to consider the gender of the noun to address them accordingly:
Imeans “I”
ty means “you”
on means “he”
ona means “she”
my means “we”
one means “they”
Greetings
It’s a nice thing to know how to greet other people. You can start with a simple witam!:
Witam means “hello”
dzień dobry means “good morning”
dobry wieczór means “good afternoon” or “good evening”
dobranoc means “good night”
Saying Goodbye
It is polite to say "goodbye" and let the other person know you are leaving before you go:
do widzenia means “goodbye”
do zobaczenia później means “see you later”
do zobaczenia means “see you”
do zobaczenia jutro means “see you tomorrow”
dbać! means “take care!”
miłego dnia! means “have a nice day!”
do zobaczenia wkrótce! means “see you soon!”
miłej podróży! means “have a good trip!”
Days of the Week
Talking about specific times or dates, you should know how to say the days of the week:
Niedziela means “Sunday”
Poniedziałek means “Monday”
Wtorek means “Tuesday”
Środa means “Wednesday”
Czwartek means “Thursday”
Piątek means “Friday”
Sobota means “Saturday”
Other Time Words
Of course you can’t miss the general terms used to address the time! Here are some:
przedwczoraj means “day before yesterday”
wczoraj means “yesterday”
rok means “year”
dzień means “day”
miesiąc means “month”
wiek means “century”
godzina means “hour”
Dziś means “today”
tydzień means “week”
świt means “dawn”
jutro means “tomorrow”
rano means “morning”
środek nocy means “midnight”
południe means “noon”
minuta means “minute”
noc means “night”
pojutrze means “day after tomorrow”
sekundy means “seconds”
wieczór means “afternoon”
Nuclear Family
Addressing your family member is necessary, isn't it? You should know how to address them in your target language so that when you speak to them or talk about them with others, they would know who you are talking about:
ojciec means “father”
tata means “dad”
matka means “mother”
mama means “mom”
brat means “brother”
siostra means “sister”
syn means “son”
córka means “daughter”
bliska rodzina means “close family”
Personality and Emotions
With these Polish words, you can describe your feelings and other people’s character:
radosny means “joyful”
zabawny means “funny”
poważny means “serious”
nieśmiały means “shy”
odważny means “brave”
zwariowany means “crazy”
zadowolenie means “content”
szczęśliwy means “happy”
zmartwiony means “worried”
nerwowy means “nervous”
cichy means “tranquil”
spokojna means “calm”
podekscytowany means “excited”
Start Learning Today!
Although we provided you with a general Polish vocabulary list in this article, it isn’t enough to achieve a level of actual fluency in the language. Learn more with MostUsedWords Frequency Dictionaries! Each dictionary follows the same layout. The only thing that differs is the range of vocabulary. You can download them as ebooks on our website, or as paperbacks on Amazon.
Each of the dictionaries contains English translations of the Polish words, accompanied by example sentences to know the right use of words in context. Each word also has IPA phonetic spelling as pronunciation guide, as well as a detailed part of speech information!
- 2500 Most Common Polish Words for Beginners
- 2501-5000 Most Common Polish Words for Intermediates
- 5001-7500 Most Common Polish Words for Advanced Students
You can expand your vocabulary by learning new words through context. Reading can help you to understand the flow and grammar since this mimics natural language learning and will help you learn new vocabulary by allowing you to use context. You'll be able to retain words quicker if you are exposed to them repeatedly.