the POLSKI blog

March is always a busy month for me as many of my good friends celebrate their birthdays. And many of them are Polish.
I have recently realised that this basic phrase – happy birthday – has not featured in my Polish your Polish series yet. What an oversight!
So what do you say (or write, if you [...]

I’ve been asked by a few people to post something on basic questions regarding directions and asking for help in Polish. And as the summer holiday season is upon us, here are some basic phrases you may need while travelling in Poland.
Let’s start by buying a ticket. Any ticket.
Bilet[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Ticket. [...]

I don’t know how it happened, but Easter is already here. It’s time then for another mix of Polish Easter phrases and traditions.
Easter in Polish is
Wielkanoc [Audio clip: view full post to listen]

which is obviously the most important holiday in the Christian calendar, and in a deeply Catholic country like Poland, it comes with a [...]

My previous post made me realise some of my readers might be a bit confused now. Why ‘Polska’, if the blog is called ‘Polski’? What’s the difference?
Well, let me confuse you even more.
‘Polska’ can be used as a noun, a proper name – simply the name of the country, Poland.
But ‘polska’ (with a small ‘p’) [...]

If you’re on a diet, look away now. Last Thursday Poles celebrated Tłusty Czwartek, aka the Fat Thursday.
Tłusty Czwartek[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
is mainly celebrated in Poland and in Germany and it marks the end of the carnival. It’s the last Thursday before Lent, which starts with Ash Wednesday the following week.
So what [...]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Powodzenia!
Good luck!
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Image © sp1ffyd via Flickr used under CC licence

Right, 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 [Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Although [...]

This is just a quick language update, inspired partly by what I saw this morning outside my window – at least three seasons in one day. First it was white snow, almost appropriate for this time of the year, although highly unlikely to stick around (so to speak) for long in London, then beautiful spring, [...]