the POLSKI blog

13 Dec, 2008

Merry Christmas in Polish – polish your Polish part 9

Posted by: Michał In: polish your Polish

834957420_e874d39380_mRight, Christmas in nearly here. And I know people will want to impress their Polish friends by wishing them Merry Christmas in Polish.

Time then for a quick overview of the most useful Polish phrases for the festive period.

Let’s start with the name itself, Christmas in Polish is

Boże Narodzenie

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Although you can also refer to it as

święta

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which literally means ‘holidays’. The singular form ‘święto’ can refer to a bank holiday in general, while the plural will be used to denote either Christmas or Easter or any cluster of bank holidays.

The individual Christmas days don’t really have individual names like they do in Britain, apart from:

Wigilia

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Christmas Eve, the evening when most Poles will have their Christmas Eve dinners, exchange gifts and go to church for the midnight mass.


To wish someone a Merry Christmas, you say simply

Wesołych świąt!

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Merry Christmas. And a week after Wigilia, people get ready for

Sylwester

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New Year’s Eve. Poles celebrate name’s days and the male name Sylwester (celebrated on 31st December) has become the name of the last day in a year. The New Year’s Day is

Nowy Rok

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Literally, ‘new year’. And how do you wish someone a Happy new Year? Well, it’s a mouthful:

Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku

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Image of Gdańsk © magro kr via Flickr, used under CC licence

Related posts:

  1. Easter in Poland – polish your Polish, part 13
  2. Polish Christmas food
  3. How to wish happy birthday in Polish – polish your Polish, part 15
  4. How to introduce yourself – polish your Polish, part 7
  5. Polish travel phrases – polish your Polish, part 14

4 Responses to "Merry Christmas in Polish – polish your Polish part 9"

1 | Polish Christmas food | the POLSKI blog

December 18th, 2008 at 11:00 am

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[...] → How to wish Happy Christmas in Polish [...]

2 | janineNo Gravatar

November 12th, 2011 at 9:14 pm

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how do you say in Polish

Happy christmas to Michael and family. Thank you for all you have done for us

3 | JanaNo Gravatar

December 22nd, 2011 at 12:28 am

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“Poles celebrate name’s days…” More accurately, Poles celebrate saint’s feastdays; and the saint of 31 Dec. is St. Sylvester. Thus the day/New Year’s Eve is termed “Sylvester” in several European countries.

4 | Nice Christmas photos | Christmas Eve

January 26th, 2012 at 7:37 pm

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[...] Długi Targ Image by magro_kr Długi Targ, Gdańsk, 12 grudnia 2006 r. ** Długi Targ (Long Market), Gdańsk, December 12, 2006 ** Picture featured in The Polski blog entry. [...]

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  • Czarny kapturek: The UK gains a lot, when we are able to have Polish people. It also means that people like me are able to live and work with no bother in Germany and
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The POLSKI blog is written by Michał, a Polish journalist, writer, one-time language teacher and linguist, living and working in London.

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