Learn Polish for your trip
Warsaw, Kraków and Gdańsk: milk bars, trains and when to say Pan or Pani.
- 12 modules
- 4 missions
- 565 phrases to search, hear and save
Try it free for 14 days.
Photo credit
Photo of St Mary's Basilica, Kraków by Tomasz Zielonka (opens in a new tab) on Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License (opens in a new tab).
A travel guide with First Steps and an Out and about track, and four missions: lunch at a milk bar, getting around by train, tram and bus, shopping at a market stall, and getting help at a pharmacy and the police.
Real situations, one at a time.
4 missions, each a situation you will meet on a trip. You practise the key language, then the conversation.
Missions
Lunch at a milk bar
Order a hot lunch at a Polish milk bar, pay at the counter, return your tray and answer Smacznego, all in friendly Polish.
Get around by train, tram and bus
Take a train and a tram in Poland: check the vehicle, buy a ticket, find the platform, ask where to get off and follow directions on foot.
Shop at a market stall
Buy fruit, vegetables and cheese at a Polish market stall: ask for amounts, answer the seller's questions, taste, pay and count your change.
Get help at a pharmacy and the police
Explain a small health problem to a pharmacist, mention an allergy, understand the dose, and report a lost passport and ask the way to the police.
The Polish you learn, in order.
It starts with First Steps, the survival language for your first hour, then a travel track for the places you will go.
- 1First StepsDzień dobry! Hello, please, thank you, and the polite words that open doors.
- 2Out and aboutTrains, markets, the pharmacy and a proper restaurant: getting around Poland and getting help.
- 12
- modules, each in short lessons
- 265
- words and expressions
- 30
- sentence patterns
- 565
- phrases in the phrasebook
Polish you can use on day one.
These are from the first lessons. In the app each has audio, a note on when to use it, and a way to save it.
Dzień dobry. Dzień dobry!
Good day. Good day!
Dziękuję bardzo.
Thank you very much.
Ile to kosztuje?
How much does it cost?
Gdzie jest dworzec?
Where is the station?
Proszę powtórzyć, dziękuję.
Please repeat that, thank you.
Rachunek, proszę.
The bill, please.
Chciałbym herbatę, proszę.
I'd like a tea, please. (a man speaking)
Three things about Polish for a traveller.
Pan and Pani
Polish politeness uses Pan (to a man) and Pani (to a woman) with a verb in the third person. The guide teaches when it fits, and how to say it.
Milk bars
Bar mleczny, an inexpensive canteen-style restaurant, is a mission of its own: reading the menu and ordering at the counter.
English varies by place
In Kraków and other busy places English is easier to find. In the Masurian lakes and smaller towns it is less common, and the notes say so.
Places the course has notes on.
Each note is a habit of that place, so you know what to expect where you are going.
Warsaw & Mazovia
Warsaw, the capital: the rebuilt Old Town, the metro, trams and big modern streets, with Mazovia around it
Kraków & the Tatras
Kraków, Zakopane and the Tatra mountains in Lesser Poland: busy with visitors, so English is easier to find
Gdańsk & the Baltic coast
Gdańsk, Sopot, Gdynia and the Baltic coast: busy in summer, quieter outside it
Wrocław & Lower Silesia
Wrocław, a lively university city of bridges and islands, and the hills and spa towns of Lower Silesia
Poznań & Greater Poland
Poznań, a trade-fair and university city, and the lakes and towns of Greater Poland
Masurian lakes
Olsztyn, Mikołajki and Giżycko among the Masurian lakes in the north-east: sailing country where English is less common
Elsewhere in Poland
Łódź, Katowice, Lublin, Toruń, Szczecin and everywhere else
The same app plans the trip you are learning Polish for.
Takes your phrases offline
Download the travel guide on Wi-Fi. The phrasebook, survival and travel packs, local notes and audio then work with no signal.
Plans the trip too
Put places on days, save the TikToks and reels that gave you ideas, see the stops on a map and share the plan.
Keeps your travel map
Colour in the countries you have been to and the ones you want to go to.
About learning Polish.
Is Polish too hard for a short trip?
Polish grammar takes time. The phrases for a trip are short, and the guide teaches them with audio, so you can say and understand them without learning the grammar first.
Does the guide cover the whole of Poland?
There are notes for Warsaw, Kraków and the Tatra mountains, Gdańsk and the coast, Wrocław, Poznań and the Masurian lakes.
How do I hear the pronunciation?
Each phrase has audio and plays on your device. The speaking check tells you what it heard, and gives no score.
Going somewhere else?
Say your first Polish phrase in a few minutes.
Create a free account, pick Polish, and start with the phrases for your first hour.
Try it free for 14 days.