Cześć – Poland: Word by Word
Being friendly in a language that you don't know very well can be quite challenging. For a start, let's focus on the polite basics, like greeting someone.
When seeing someone in the street, or in any formal social situation, Poles would usually go with either Dzień dobry ('Good morning'), which is the most universal greeting and works fine for most of the day, or Dobry wieczór ('Good evening'), which is limited to late hours.
Apart from this regular cast, there are a couple of less formal greetings you might want to incorporate into your fledgling Polish lexicon, like Cześć, which is perhaps the most popular (and least formal) of them.
Cześć is a useful word to use whenever you want to greet someone whom you know well or have met before and who is not significantly older than you (in case you’re addressing a grandma, make sure you stick to Dzień dobry). It may seem a banal and everyday word but it also has quite a history. Its other meaning is 'honour', which reminds us of the time when greetings were a sign of respect.
Alternatives to Cześć include:
- Serwus (rather old-fashioned)
- Siema (very colloquial).
And now to goodbyes. Cześć comes in handy again, as it is used for both hello and goodbye, much like Hola in Spanish. However, for more formal situations, be sure to use one of the following:
- Do widzenia (the most standard good-bye)
- Do zobaczenia (slightly more formal)
Both can be translated as ‘See you later’ (but literally mean 'Until we see each other again').
But perhaps the easiest option is a simple: Pa!
If it's late and you’re heading to bed, use:
- Dobranoc! ('Good night!') – notice it’s one word, so stress the penultimate syllable
- Dobranoc i powodzenia! ('Good night and good luck!')
For more on how to be polite in Polish, see our entry on Proszę… And if you're looking for more pronunciation tips, explore our Foreigner’s Guide to the Polish Alphabet.
Our online series Poland: Word by Word allows foreigners to familiarise themselves with everyday Polish words by explaining their cultural context and significance. It later became the basis for Culture.pl's very first book: Quarks, Elephants & Pierogi: Poland in 100 Words.
Tytuł (nagłówek do zdjęcia)
Quarks, Elephants & Pierogi:
Poland in 100 Words
[{"nid":"5688","uuid":"6aa9e079-0240-4dcb-9929-0d1cf55e03a5","type":"article","langcode":"en","field_event_date":"","title":"Challenges for Polish Prose in the Nineties","field_introduction":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary\r\n","field_summary":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary","topics_data":"a:2:{i:0;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259609\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:26:\u0022#language \u0026amp; literature\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:27:\u0022\/topics\/language-literature\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}i:1;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259644\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:8:\u0022#culture\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:14:\u0022\/topic\/culture\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}}","field_cover_display":"default","image_title":"","image_alt":"","image_360_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/360_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ZsoNNVXJ","image_260_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/260_auto_cover\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=pLlgriOu","image_560_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/560_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=0n3ZgoL3","image_860_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/860_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ELffe8-z","image_1160_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1160_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=XazO3DM5","field_video_media":"","field_media_video_file":"","field_media_video_embed":"","field_gallery_pictures":"","field_duration":"","cover_height":"991","cover_width":"1000","cover_ratio_percent":"99.1","path":"en\/node\/5688","path_node":"\/en\/node\/5688"}]