Learn how to ask, "Can you speak English?"
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Hello and welcome to Polish Survival Phrases brought to you by PolishPod101.com, this course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Poland. You will be surprised at how far a little Polish will go. |
| Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by PolishPod101.com and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| In Polish, "Do you speak English?" is Czy pan mówi po angielsku? |
| The first two words, czy pan, mean "Do you, sir." |
| The next word in our phrase is mówi, which means "speaks." Mówi comes from the verb mówić, meaning "to speak." |
| The last component of our phrase is po angielsku, meaning literally "in English." |
| To recap, the whole phrase is Czy pan mówi po angielsku? ("Do you speak English, sir?") You probably wonder how to say, "you (ma'am)?" If you want to ask a woman if she speaks English, you simply have to change the word pan ("sir") to pani ("ma'am"). |
| So the phrase would be Czy pani mówi po angielsku? ("Do you speak English, ma'am?") |
| The phrase we just learned is perfect in a formal setting. You should always use the above phrase with people you don't know or elders. |
| When speaking to someone we know or people our age, we will say in Polish Czy mówisz po angielsku? Please notice there is no pan or pani in the phrase Czy mówisz po angielsku? Polite forms pan ("sir") or pani ("ma'am") are required in formal contact only. Also, please have a look at the forms of the verb mówić ("to speak"). We use mówi with pan/pani ("sir"/"ma'am"), whereas mówisz is direct, and we use it with people we know or those we're friends with. |
| Now for a change, let's try a different language. |
| Let's try Spanish. "Do you speak Spanish?" (informal) is Czy mówisz po hiszpańsku? |
| The word for "in Spanish" is po hiszpańsku. |
| In this example, you need to change the word for the language only. |
| The rest stays the same. |
| The same rule applies to formal questions. For example, "Do you speak Spanish, ma'am?" will be Czy pani mówi po hiszpańsku? |
Outro |
| Okay, to close out this lesson, we'd like you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for shouting it aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so powodzenia, which means “good luck” in Polish. |
| "Do you speak English, sir?" - Czy pan mówi po angielsku? |
| Czy pan mówi po angielsku? |
| Czy pan mówi po angielsku? |
| "Do you speak English, ma'am? (formal)" - Czy pani mówi po angielsku? |
| Czy pani mówi po angielsku? |
| Czy pani mówi po angielsku? |
| "Do you speak Spanish? (informal)" - Czy mówisz po hiszpańsku? |
| Czy mówisz po hiszpańsku? |
| Czy mówisz po hiszpańsku? |
| All right, that's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by PolishPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
Comments
HideNie mówi? po hiszpa?sku, a Wy? (and you?)
Cześć Zé,
Polacy uważają hiszpański za łatwy język. Jest popularny.
Nauka języka obcego rozwija umysł – to dobrze, że Polacy uczą się języków 😁
Pozdrawiam serdecznie,
Hanna
Team PolishPod101.com
to me, it's useless.
I see a lot of people willing to learn Spanish. Don't understand why. All Latin American countries are distressed ones...
Why do some Poles learn Spanish? Just curious. To my, it's completely useless.
Best,
Zé.
Hej Anirudh,
I am sure you can use Google Translate or other online translaton to check such easy sentence.
Kind regards,
Hanna
Team PolishPod101.com
Witam ,
Co znaczy "Jeśli zmienisz zdanie, zawsze możesz dołączyć" po angielsku ??
Hej Anirudh,
Szkoda, że nie masz pieniędzy! Jeśli zmienisz zdanie, zawsze możesz dołączyć. :)
Tak, “zrozumiały” oznacza “understandable”.
Natomiast "Jednakże" oznacza "however",
"całkiem" w wyrażeniu "całkiem nieźle " oznacza "pretty good" / "quite good".
"Drobne" w moim zdaniu oznacza "small".
Powodzenia! ?
Hanna
Team PolishPod101.com
Witam Pani Hanno ,
Dziękuję , ale niestety nie mam pieniądze .
Co znaczy "całkiem" , "drobne" , "Jednakże" ?
Czy "zrozumiały" znaczy "understandable" , po angielsku ?
Dzięki ?
Hej Anirudh,
Czy Twoje pytanie jest skierowane do mnie?
Jeśli tak, proszę użyj określenia Pani lub mojego imienia. Możesz także napisać "Witam Pani Hanno" (poprawnie odmienione imię).
Po polsku nie piszemy Pan / Pani, jeśli znamy płeć osoby, do której piszemy.
Jeśli chodzi o Twoje pytanie, myślę, że całkiem nieźle mówisz po polsku, Anirudh. Oczywiście, robisz drobne błędy, na przykład w odmianie czasowników i rzeczowników. Jednakże, ogólnie Twój polski jest zrozumiały.
Czy masz nauczyciela na PolishPod101.com? Jeśli chcesz uczyć się szybciej i lepiej, polecam zapisać się na lekcje z nauczycielem z PolishPod101.com. Do piątku mamy zniżkę 45% - nauka z nauczycielem jest tania i efektywna ?
Daj znać, co myślisz o tym, żeby zostać moim uczniem!
Czekam na Twoją odpowiedź ?
Pozdrawiam,
Hanna
Witaj Pan / Pani ,
Mam pytanie?
Jak mówię ja po polsku ? Co myśle Pan / Pani ???
Hi Sophie
Thank you for your comment.
Both mentioned sentences have the same meaning and both are correct. You can place a verb before or after a formal pronoun and it doesn't change the meaning of a sentence (at least in that sentence and I don't recall any example when it does).
Please let me know if you have nay more questions!
Cheers:sunglasses:
Basia
Team PolishPod101.pl
Hi! What is the difference between
Czy mówi pan/pani po angielsku?
and
Czy pan/pani mówi po angielsku?
I have heard it both ways. Does it matter where we insert the formal pronoun (before/after the verb)?
Dziękuję!
Hi John
Great job. As you have probably noticed Polish people really like even if you try to speak a little bit of Polish.
So good luck with your studies!
Best
Piotr
Team PolishPod101.com
Dobry Wieczór wszyczy.
Jestem John, mieszkam od dwa lata w polsce..ale słabo mówię po polsku.
Mówię dobrze po swedzku i angielsku, a także trochę w języku francuskim i niemieckim...
That's pretty much the limit of my polish skills so far.
Thanks so much for this website and course though. It makes me feel hopeful and positive in my language learning! :)
Hi Aline
Thank you for your message. Yes, it is very common to say "Pan" and "Pani" to others in Poland. It is a good manner to always use it with people older than you and the ones you meet for the first time. Actually, it may also be considered rude to use informal language with the situations above.
With friends you can be much more relaxed and skip the formal language.
Let me know in case you have any other questions.
Sincerely
Piotr
Team PolishPod101.com
Hi!
Do Polish people say quite often the words "pan" and "pani" for that sentence, or is it more natural to say just "mówisz" ?
Dziękuję bardzo!
Hi Diego.
Niestety nie znam gwary śląskiej :flushed:
Sincerely
Piotr
Team PolishPod101.com
Czy Pan mówi po ślunsku?
Hello Tyler,
:mrgreen: So if you know Russian already, I'm sure you will learn Polish soon!
If you have any questions, we're here for you.
Cheers,
Neha
Team PolishPod101.com
I have just started learning and I am surprised at how similar Polish is to Russian!
Hello Brian
You can say it like that. "Pochodzę z Walii i mówię po walijsku. "
Let us know if you have any other questions.
Sincerely
Piotr
Team PolishPod101.com