The Focus of this Lesson is How to Greet People in Both Formal and Informal Situations

Cześć!
"Hi!"

Cześć, probably the most common way of greeting people in Poland, can be used towards friends, people around your age, and also among relatives.

Some more even more casual greetings, that are reserved for your friends only are hej and siema.

As you may have noticed hej is very similar to the English "hey" and that's actually where it derives from. The other one, siema, is a very interesting greeting, pretty new, but extremely popular among young generations. Whenever you want to say "How are you?" in Polish, you say Jak się masz? If we cut off the preposition jak, which stands for the English "how," we get się masz. So to make it even shorter siema was created. There are a few more versions of siema, for example siemka, siemano, siemanko. Please remember that these are Polish slang terms and are reserved for your close friends only.

Formal Situations

There are a few choices when it comes to greeting people in a formal setting. Let's start with the most common expression, which is dzień dobry. Dzień dobry stands for the English "good morning," but literal translation will be "good day" The noun dzień means "day" and the adjective dobry means "good." Dzień dobry can be used throughout the day, whereas in the evening it's good to say dobry wieczór. This expression uses the adjective dobry, but in this case the noun is wieczór, which means "evening," so all together "good evening," dobry wieczór.

If you happen to forget how to say "good evening" you shouldn't worry too much and just say dzień dobry, since it's perfectly fine to use it from morning until night.

Greetings

Informal greetings:

1. Cześć!
   Czesc
   "Hi!," "Hello!"
2. Hej!
   "Hey!"
3. Siema!
   "Hey!," "Hello" (slang)

Formal greetings:

1. Dzień dobry
   Dzien dobry
   "Good morning"
2. Dobry wieczór
   Dobry wieczor
   "Good evening"

Sample Sentences

1. Cześć, Robert.
   Czesc, Robert.
   "Hello, Robert."
2. Dobry wieczór panu.
   Dobry wieczor panu.
   "Good evening, sir"

Language Tip

When greeting people you can add their name to the greeting word, just like you've seen in the sample sentences above. Just put a name after cześć or hej.

Also in case of formal greetings you can do a similar thing but here instead of using the person's name we will use "Sir," which is pan or "ma'am" pani in Polish. A very important part of Polish grammar is cases, but in these series we will not talk about them in detail. Instead, we will reserve this for further study. For this lesson, please note that whenever you want to say "Good morning, sir" or "Good evening, sir" you have to use the form panu, not the dictionary form pan:

Dzień dobry panu (whenever we greet a man during the day)

Dobry wieczór panu (whenever we greet a man in the evening)

Dzień dobry pani (whenever greeting a lady during the day)

Dobry wieczór pani (whenever greeting a lady in the evening)

Language Expansion: Farewells

Saying farewells in Polish is as easy as greetings. Here we have more options to choose from.

Informal farewells:

1. papa
   "bye bye"
2. pa
   "bye"
3. na razie
   "see you"
4. nara
   "see ya"
5. do zobaczenia (both formal and informal)
   "see you later"
6. do zobaczyska
   "see you later"
7. do jutra
   "see you tomorrow"

Formal farewells:

1. do widzenia
   "goodbye"
2. do zobaczenia (both formal and informal)
   "see you later"
3. dobranoc
   "goodnight"

świetnie - "great"

In the dialogue Gosia answered Alex's question about her well-being with świetnie, which stands for the English "great." Świetnie is an adverb, but what if we need an adjective? Let's go through all three forms according to the gender:

• świetny - masculine
• świetna - feminine
• świetne - neuter

Don't worry, we will talk about genders later, for now just remember the forms.

The adverb świetnie used by Gosia in the dialogue has a positive meaning, but Polish people use it also in negative way. When we want to be ironic, when we're unhappy about something, we've just seen or heard bad news, very often we say Świetnie! of course with intonation matching the situation.

Jak się masz? - "how are you?"

The phrase very commonly used in English, "how are you?" is not so popular in Polish language. However, it can be a very simple and good ice-breaker when you meet some Poles for the first time. Then, say - Jak się masz?

Please note that the verb used in Polish is completely different from the English. In Polish we use the verb "to have" which is Polish is mieć, here conjugated to the second person singular - masz. So the literal translation would be "How are you having yourself?" but of course we will stick to "How are you?"

Meeting Etiquette in Poland

Gestures in Poland, especially when it comes to greetings, are very important. You can't do well with just saying "hi" to the person you meet. The most common gesture in Poland is a handshake. Whenever you meet someone for the first time, say "hi" and give them a handshake (regardless of whether you, or they, are male or female). Make sure that your grip is firm, if you hold the other person's hand too softly, we get a bad impression of that person. We even say that such a handshake feels like holding a "dead fish" (zdechła ryba).

So remember, when you meet someone for the first time, regardless of their sex or age, to give them a firm handshake. Also among men, who already know each other (such as friends) a handshake is a common greeting (very often they don't say a word, and just give a handshake). When it comes to girlfriends, they usually kiss each other on the cheek, hug slightly or do both.