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Lesson Transcript

Cześć! Jestem Joanna. Hi! I’m Joanna.
Welcome to PolishPod101.com’s “Polski w 3 minuty”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Polish.
In the last lesson, we learned how to introduce ourselves in Polish. In this lesson we’re going to learn how to use good manners as we thank people.
Gotowi? Are you ready? Let’s start!
There are two ways to thank someone, let’s start with the easiest one. It’s just one word:
Dziękuję.
[slowly] Dziękuję.
Dziękuję means “thank you”.
When saying “thank you very much” you just need to add bardzo.
[slowly] Dziękuję bardzo.
If we want to thank a friend usually we use a different, more casual word:
Dzięki.
[slowly] Dzięki.
Dzięki is very similar to the English “thanks”, so you shouldn’t use it when your friend did something especially nice for you or when the situation is serious. We usually use it to thank for small favors, for example: if a friend bought a drink for us, lent us a pen, helped us carry our bags - and so on.
How do you answer? It’s easy! Here are two different ways to do it.
The first is:
Nie ma za co.
[slowly] Nie ma za co.
This means you’re welcome.
Nie ma za co can be used with anybody, except in a very formal situation.
In such cases it’s better to use this expression:
Przyjemność po mojej stronie.
[slowly] Przyjemność po mojej stronie.
Literally, this phrase means "pleasure is on my side". It’s not a very common thing to say among young people, or between friends and family members. But it will be considered very good manners if you answer with this expression in a formal situation, such as while talking to your boss, or speaking to someone much older than you. You can also simply say it to someone you don’t know very well.
So when someone is saying Dziękuję to you, you can reply with:
Nie ma za co or Przyjemność po mojej stronie.
If you hear dzięki, it might be a bit too much to respond to this casual phrase by saying nie ma za co or przyjemność po mojej stronie.
So how might you react then?
You have two options:
First one is just to say nothing - don’t worry, it’s a normal thing to do. The second option is to say:
Spoko.
[slowly] Spoko.
This means something like, “it’s cool”
If you want, you can also answer using this phrase:
Nie ma problemu.
[slowly] Nie ma problemu.
This means, it’s no problem.
Now it’s time for Joanna’s Insights.
If you want to keep it simple, just use Dziękuję or Dziękuję bardzo when you want to thank someone. It doesn’t matter whether the situation is formal or informal. It’s always the same.
Remember not to say Przyjemność po mojej stronie to your friends, because it will sound a little bit weird. If someone thanks you saying Dzieki, just answer Spoko, but please note that these two words are very casual.
Do you know what Do widzenia means? In our next lesson you’ll learn this and other greetings in Polish!
Dziękuję i do zobaczenia na następnej lekcji!

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