Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Fun &Easy Polish by PolishPod101.com!
Did you know that Polish verbs when used in the past tense have both a masculine and feminine form?
Stay tuned to learn more!
Cześć! Jestem Łukasz.
Hi everyone! I’m Lukasz.
And I’m Alisha
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to introduce yourself in Polish.
Knowing how to introduce yourself in Polish will make it easier for you to make new friends and get to know your co-workers better. They’ll appreciate your effort to learn the language, even if you can’t speak it perfectly from the start.
In this video, you'll learn how to greet others in Polish, how to introduce yourself, how to introduce others, and much more.
Let’s start with the basic greetings.
In Polish, there are two ways of speaking to another person. When you introduce yourself to strangers, older people, or your superiors at work, you do it in a formal way. When you introduce yourself to people your age, acquaintances, or friends, you do it in an informal way.
Now let’s begin!
"Hello" in Polish for informal introductions is
Cześć!
[SLOW] Cześć
Cześć
You can use this word when you want to say "hello'' or "goodbye." This is the perfect phrase to say before you introduce yourself in basic Polish.
Next is,
Siema!
"Hey!"
[SLOW] Siema!
Siema!
It’s the short form of:
"Jak się masz?"
"How are you?"
[SLOW] Jak się masz?
Jak się masz?
This is a popular way of saying "hey!," but it’s mostly used by young people.
It can be used when you meet someone but also as a way to say goodbye!
Now for formal introductions. One way to say "hello" formally is
Dzień dobry.
"Good morning" or "Good afternoon"
[SLOW] Dzień dobry
Dzień dobry
Use this when you want to formally greet someone during the day.
Another formal greeting is
Dobry wieczór
"Good evening"
[SLOW] Dobry wieczór
Dobry wieczór
Dzień dobry is replaced with Dobry wieczór when you meet someone in the evening.
Another common way of greeting people is with a handshake or a kiss. Men often use a handshake, whereas female friends are often giving or receiving a kiss on the cheek.
Next let’s see how to introduce yourself in Polish.
Make sure you include your name, country of origin, and place of residence when introducing yourself.
Let’s first learn how to say "My name is" in Polish.
To do this, please note that there are two forms of address in Polish.
For informal questions, we use the verb form in the second-person singular.
For example:
Masz
"You have"
[SLOW] Masz
Masz
For formal questions, we use the verb form in the third-person singular, together with Pan/Pani, which we’ll talk about later on.
Here’s an example conversation in an informal setting:
Cześć! Jak masz na imię?
"Hello! What’s your name?"
[SLOW] Cześć! Jak masz na imię?
Cześć! Jak masz na imię?
Mam na imię Łukasz. A ty?
"Hello! My name is Piotrek. What’s yours?"
[SLOW] Mam na imię Łukasz. A ty?
Mam na imię Łukasz. A ty?
Mam na imię Małgosia. Miło mi cię poznać.
"My name is Małgosia. Nice to meet you."
[SLOW] Mam na imię Małgosia. Miło mi cię poznać.
Mam na imię Małgosia. Miło mi cię poznać.
After the woman has introduced herself you can politely respond with,
Miło mi Panią poznać.
"Nice to meet you, Ma’am."
[SLOW] Miło mi Panią poznać.
Miło mi Panią poznać.
Pani is the title used when women are addressed by strangers and younger people. It literally translates to "woman," but it can also be used as "Mrs."
The analogous title used for men is Pan.
You may have noticed in the last example that the word differs from what we learned before.
Strictly speaking, this is due to Polish case inflection—but don’t worry about this now as it will be covered in detail in a future lesson.
For now you can memorize the sentence as a fixed expression that’s used when meeting women.
Here’s an example of using Pan when addressing men:
Dzień dobry. Jak ma Pan na imię?
"Good day. What’s your name, Sir?"
[SLOW] Dzień dobry. Jak ma Pan na imię?
Dzień dobry. Jak ma Pan na imię?
After the man has introduced himself you can politely respond with,
Miło mi Pana poznać.
"Nice to meet you, Sir."
[SLOW] Miło mi Pana poznać.
Miło mi Pana poznać.
Next, let’s learn how to talk about your nationality in Polish. There are several possible questions that people may ask you.
In informal situations, you may often hear the following questions:
Skąd pochodzisz?
Where do you come from?
[SLOW] Skąd pochodzisz?
Skąd pochodzisz?
Pochodzę z Anglii.
I come from England.
[SLOW] Pochodzę z Anglii.
Pochodzę z Anglii.
Skąd jesteś?
Where are you from?
[SLOW] Skąd jesteś?
Skąd jesteś?
Jestem z Kanady.
I am from Canada.
[SLOW] Jestem z Kanady.
Jestem z Kanady.
Here’s how a conversation between two men may look like:
Gdzie się urodziłeś?
Where were you born?
[SLOW] Gdzie się urodziłeś?
Gdzie się urodziłeś?
Urodziłem się w Polsce.
I was born in Poland.
[SLOW] Urodziłem się w Polsce.
Urodziłem się w Polsce.
For women, the same sentences would sound like this:
Gdzie się urodziłaś?
“Where were you born?”
Urodziłam się w Polsce.
“I was born in Poland.”
Did you notice that the verb urodzić, like other Polish verbs in the past tense, has a male and female form?
Here’s another example:
Jakiej jesteś narodowości?
What’s your nationality?
[SLOW] Jakiej jesteś narodowości?
Jakiej jesteś narodowości?
An American man would reply:
Jestem Amerykaninem.
I’m American.
[SLOW] Jestem Amerykaninem.
Jestem Amerykaninem.
An American woman would reply:
Jestem Amerykanką.
I’m American.
[SLOW] Jestem Amerykanką.
Jestem Amerykanką.
Adjectives in Polish also have a gender. If you memorize both versions for every word, with practice, you’ll see that sometimes you can guess the other form of any new adjective that you encounter.
For formal introductory conversations, you first need to remember that there are two different words that refer to women and men.
Now let’s get to the examples:
Skąd Pani pochodzi?
"Where do you come from, Ma’am?"
[SLOW] Skąd Pani pochodzi?
Skąd Pani pochodzi?
Skąd Pan jest?
"Where are you from, Sir?"
[SLOW] Skąd Pan jest?
Skąd Pan jest?
Jakiej jest Pan narodowości?
"What’s your nationality Sir?
[SLOW] Jakiej jest Pan narodowości?
Jakiej jest Pan narodowości?
Another way to introduce yourself is by letting someone know where you live.
If someone asks you one of the following:
Gdzie mieszkasz?
"Where do you live?"
[SLOW] Gdzie mieszkasz?
Gdzie mieszkasz?
Gdzie Pan mieszka?
"Where do you live, Sir?
[SLOW] Gdzie Pan mieszka?
Gdzie Pan mieszka?
Gdzie Pani mieszka?
"Where do you live, Ma’am?"
[SLOW] Gdzie Pani mieszka?
Gdzie Pani mieszka?
You can reply with something like:
Mieszkam w Londynie.
"I live in London."
[SLOW] Mieszkam w Londynie.
Mieszkam w Londynie.
Mieszkam w Warszawie, na Ursynowie.
"I live in Warsaw, in the district of Ursynów."
[SLOW] Mieszkam w Warszawie, na Ursynowie.
Mieszkam w Warszawie, na Ursynowie.
Next you’ll learn how to introduce yourself in a work environment.
If you’re working in a Polish-speaking environment, you’ll most likely be asked to say a few words about yourself in Polish. You can introduce yourself in this way:
Witam wszystkich! Nazywam się Raul i pochodzę z Brazylii. Będę pracować tutaj jako programista.
"Hello everyone! My name is Raul and I come from Brazil. I’m going to work here as a programmer."
[SLOW] Witam wszystkich! Nazywam się Raul i pochodzę z Brazylii. Będę pracować tutaj jako programista.
Witam wszystkich! Nazywam się Raul i pochodzę z Brazylii. Będę pracować tutaj jako programista.
Since we now know how to introduce ourselves, we should have a look at how to introduce others.
One way of doing this is by simply telling people each other’s names and gesturing in their direction.
If you want to introduce a friend or a partner, you can also tell people a bit about your relationship. You can say something like:
Monika, poznaj moją dziewczynę Agatę.
"Monika, please meet my girlfriend, Agata."
[SLOW] Monika, poznaj moją dziewczynę Agatę.
Monika, poznaj moją dziewczynę Agatę.
You may also want to do a full introduction, especially if you’re aware that the two people have something in common.
For example, you can say:
Maja, poznaj Marka. Marek, tak samo jak ty, uwielbia jazdę konną.
"Maja, meet Marek. Marek, just like you, loves horse riding."
[SLOW] Maja, poznaj Marka. Marek, tak samo jak ty, uwielbia jazdę konną.
Maja, poznaj Marka. Marek, tak samo jak ty, uwielbia jazdę konną.
Now if you’re at work, and you want to introduce someone to everyone else in the office, you can say something like the following:
Czy mogę prosić wszystkich o uwagę? Chciałbym przedstawić wam Anję. Anja dołączy do naszego zespołu jako sekretarz spółki. Proszę, powitajmy ją serdecznie.
"Can I have everyone’s attention? I’d like you to meet Anja. Anja is joining our team in the role of company secretary. Let’s welcome her warmly."
[SLOW] Czy mogę prosić wszystkich o uwagę? Chciałbym przedstawić wam Anję. Anja dołączy do naszego zespołu jako sekretarz spółki. Proszę, powitajmy ją serdecznie.
Czy mogę prosić wszystkich o uwagę? Chciałbym przedstawić wam Anję. Anja dołączy do naszego zespołu jako sekretarz spółki. Proszę, powitajmy ją serdecznie.
In this lesson, you learned the formal and informal ways of saying "Hello" in Polish, you learned how to introduce yourself—including how to introduce yourself in a work environment, and lastly, you learned how to introduce others at work.
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That’s it for today! See you next time!
Do zobaczyska!

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