Polish language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Polish |
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| język polski | ||||
| Native to | Poland ; bordering regions of Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic; along the Belarusian–Lithuanian and Belarusian–Latvian border; Germany, Romania, Israel. See also Polish diaspora. | |||
| Native speakers | 40 million (2007)Nationalencyklopedin "Världens 100 största språk 2007" The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007 | |||
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| Early forms: |
Old Polish
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| Writing system | Latin (Polish alphabet) Polish Braille |
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| Official status | ||||
| Official language in |  Poland European Union
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| Recognised minority language in |  Ukraine Czech Republic Slovakia Serbia Slovenia Hungary Lithuania Latvia Germany |
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| Regulated by | Polish Language Council | |||
| Linguasphere | 53-AAA-cc < 53-AAA-b...-d | |||
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Polish (język polski, polszczyzna) is the official language of Poland. It is the most common Western Slavic language and the second Slavic language, after Russian.
Polish has been an important language in Central and Eastern Europe. Polish is now spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a second language in western parts of Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine. Because of emigration from Poland during different times, millions of Polish-speakers can be found in Australia, Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom, United States and elsewhere. There are over 50 million speakers around the world.
Letters
There are 9 letters in Polish that English does not have. They look like English letters with marks above or below them.
In lower case, the 9 letters are: ą ć ę ł ń ś ó ź ż
In upper case, the 9 letters are: Ą Ć Ę Ł Ń Ś Ó Ź Ż
There are 3 English letters not used in Polish: q, v, x.
There are 7 combinations of 2 letters that are like a single letter sound (similar to "th" or "qu" in English). These include "ch", "cz", "dz", "dź", "dż", "rz", "sz".
Sounds
Many letters have the same sound in Polish and English, such as "f" "m", and others, but other letters sound different: Polish "w" sounds like an English "v", and Polish "ł" sounds like an English "w". There are also some Polish sounds that do not exist in English and some English sounds that do not exist in Polish.
The vowels "ą" and "ę" are nasal and so they are pronounced by blowing air partly out of both the nose and the mouth.
Most words are pronounced with an accent on the second-last syllable: "student" (which means the same as the English word) is pronounced with the accent on "stu" ("STU-dent"), and "studenci" (the plural form of "student") is pronounced with the accent on "den" (stu-DEN-ci).
Dialects
The Polish language has several dialects but they are more similar to one another than most other European languages. There are small differences, but all speakers can understand one another, and non-native speakers often cannot notice the differences.
Grammar
Grammar is complex, and has features that are unlike English.
Like many other languages, Polish has grammatical gender. A table (stół) is masculine, a book (książka) is feminine, and a window (okno) is neuter.
Nouns and adjectives and verbs have many endings, depending on their role in a sentence. There are 7 cases that show the role of a noun in a Polish sentence. Each has its own ending, which also depends on the gender of the noun.
Word order is freer than in English, partly because endings help to understand the role of the noun. In English, "The boy bites the dog" is quite different from "The dog bites the boy", but in Polish, both orders can be used without confusion.
Sample Phrases
Dzień dobry (Dz'yehn DOH-brih) - Good morning or Good afternoon
Dobry wieczór (DOH-brih v-YETCH-oor) - Good evening'
Do widzenia (doh vee-DZEN-yah) - Good bye
Cześć! (tsheshch) - Hi, Hello! or Bye
Tak (tahk) - Yes (in Polish, long-short answers like Yes, I did are not needed, and Tak is enough)
Nie (nyeh) - No or Not (in Polish, long-short answers like No, I won't are not needed, and Nie is enough)
Jak się masz? (yahk shyeh mahsh) - How do you do?
Co robisz? (tsoh robish) - What you doing?
Jak się nazywasz? (YAHK shyeh nahZYvash) or Jak masz na imię? (YAHK mahsh nah EE-myeng/EE-myeh) - What's your name?
Nazywam się... (nah-ZIH-vahm shyeh) - My (name and) surname is...
Mam na imię... (mahm nah EE-myeng/EE-myeh) - My (given) name is...
Nie mówię po polsku (nyeh MOW-vyeng/MOW-vyeh poh POL-skoo) - I do not speak Polish
Lubię Cię (loo-bee-EH chyeh) - I like you
Kocham Cię (koh-hahm chyeh) - I love you
Nie mówię po angielsku (nyeh MOW-vyeng/MOW-vyeh poh ahng-YEL-skoo) - I do not speak English
Jak dojechać na lotnisko/dworzec (yak do-YEH-khatch nah lot-NEE-sco/dvo-ZHETS) - How to get the airport/rail station?
(where dworzec - station means rail station by default)
Images for kids
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The Book of Henryków is the earliest document to include a sentence written entirely in what can be interpreted as Old Polish – Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ty poziwai, meaning "let me grind, and you have a rest" highlighted in red.
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The oldest printed text in Polish – Statuta synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensis printed in 1475 in Wrocław by Kasper Elyan.
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The Polish alphabet contains 32 letters. Q, V and X are not used in the Polish language.
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A formal-tone informative sign in Polish, with a composition of vowels and consonants and a mixture of long, medium and short syllables
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The Jakub Wujek Bible in Polish, 1599 print. The letters á and é were subsequently abolished, but survive in Czech.
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Common handbag in Polish is called a torba, a word directly derived from the Turkish language. Turkish loanwords are common as Poland bordered the Ottoman Empire for centuries
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The manuscript of Pan Tadeusz held at Ossolineum in Wrocław. Adam Mickiewicz's signature is visible.
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Olga Tokarczuk (born 1962)
See also
In Spanish: Idioma polaco para niños
