How to Use

Learning Polish on Polish From Scratch is simple: follow each lesson's instructions carefully. The most crucial part of your learning will always be input: reading, listening, watching, and absorbing as much Polish as you can, consistently.

First, Learn How Polish Sounds

Polish is written in the Latin alphabet, with nine extra letters (ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż) and a few letter pairs. Its spelling is regular: once you know what the letters stand for, you can read any word aloud, even one you've never seen. Take a few minutes with this before your first lesson.

These are the letters that surprise English speakers:

Stress is almost always on the second-to-last syllable: Warszawa, dziękuję.

A good free place to see more: Omniglot: Polish language and alphabet. You don't need to know any rules by heart. Once you can sound out a word slowly, you're ready.

Why Input Matters Most

Traditional language learning tries to make you speak before you're ready, forcing you to memorise grammar rules or drill vocabulary out of context.

But when you're pushed to speak too early, you're often just guessing, making mistakes, and creating bad habits. Instead, our method emphasises constant exposure to natural, understandable Polish, similar to how children learn their first language.

Required Reading: Input - what it is and why you need it

Daily Lessons: How to Use Them

Each lesson comes with clear instructions: simply follow along step by step. If you've comfortably finished one, it's perfectly fine to go straight on to another. But don't rush, and take breaks if you're tired. Enjoying the process is crucial; if you don't, burnout is inevitable.

The Levels, from A1 to C2

Lessons are grouped into levels on the CEFR scale, the European standard that runs from A1 (beginner) to C2 (near native). They follow the requirements of the official Polish state certificate exams for each of the six levels. Each level has its own page: Newbie (A1). The other levels are still being written.

Within your level, take the lessons in any order you like, and there's no rush. Move on to the next level when you're ready, and come back to a lesson as often as you like. Repetition is part of the process: it helps your brain internalise the language over time.

How many lessons to take

You don't need every lesson of a level. After about the number below, most learners are ready for the next level; take more wherever you want more practice.

About 670 lessons in all, from Newbie to Advanced. Your own lessons done at each level are on the Progress page.

Using a Lesson Page

Every lesson is one short conversation: the situation under the title, then each line in Polish.

Audio recordings are on the way. When a lesson gets its recording, its page will play the whole dialogue or any single line, repeat lines, slow them down, and offer a listen-only mode.

On a computer, the keyboard works too: the ← → arrows go to the previous or next lesson.

When you've finished a lesson, press Done: it takes you to the next one and, with a free account, marks the lesson done, so the course page and the menu show where you left off. If you spot a mistake in a line, press Spotted a mistake? under the dialogue, choose the line and tell us what's wrong.

Saving Your Progress

You don't need an account to learn: every lesson is open to everyone. To keep track of your progress, create a free account with your email address. Every lesson you finish is then saved to your account, and the course page and the menu show where you left off. Log in on your phone, another computer or a new browser, and you pick up where you left off there too.

Without an account, nothing about your progress is kept. If you marked lessons done in this browser before progress moved to accounts, they're still here, waiting: create an account or log in on this browser and they go into it. Your account holds only your email address and the lessons you've marked done, and you can delete it any time from its page.

Ty or Pan? Part of Every Lesson

Polish has two ways of talking to someone. Family, friends and children say ty to each other, as in Masz czas? ("Do you have time?"). Strangers, customers and staff, and younger people talking to older ones, use the polite pan to a man and pani to a woman: Ma pan czas? Get it wrong and you sound rude, or oddly stiff.

Polish also shows who is talking: a man says byłem ("I was") and a woman byłam. You don't need to study the rules. Each lesson's situation says who the speakers are and how they know each other, and across the course you meet every combination: women and men, students and young couples, parents and grandparents, bosses, customers and old friends. Notice how they speak to each other, and the right forms will start to feel natural, the same way they do for Poles.

Maximising Your Input

Your goal is simple: get as much input as possible. This doesn't mean just focused study; it means immersing yourself in Polish as often as you can, even passively. Listen to Polish podcasts, YouTube videos, films or series while you walk, exercise, cook, or commute.

AJATT famously emphasises this: passive listening helps your brain get accustomed to Polish sounds, making the language feel natural over time. In our resources section, you'll find podcasts and channels to keep your input levels high.

Your Flashcards

With a free account, the site keeps flashcards for you on every device, and reviews them the way Anki does: each card comes back just before you'd forget it.

1. On a lesson, press + at the end of a line, or beside a word in its card or its word list. At the end of the lesson, "Add today's lines" saves them all at once. They go into the level's deck, for example "Newbie (A1)", or any deck you choose.
2. Open Flashcards in the menu, pick a deck and press Study Now. Listen, try to remember, then press Show Answer and say how it went: Again, Hard, Good or Easy. The keys work too: Space shows the answer, 1 to 4 answer it.
3. A line or a word you save from several lessons stays one card. Your cards are kept in your free account, so they follow you to every device.
4. You can take them to Anki at any time: Export to Anki, on the Flashcards page, makes a file with every card and its schedule.

Taking Your Cards to Anki

1. Install Anki. It's free on computers (apps.ankiweb.net) and on Android (AnkiDroid). On iPhone and iPad, the official app is AnkiMobile, which is paid.
2. On the Flashcards page, open a deck's menu and choose Export: the file holds every card of the deck and its schedule.
3. Open the downloaded file: double-click it on a computer, or open it with AnkiDroid or AnkiMobile on a phone. Tick "Import any learning progress" and "Import any deck presets" when Anki asks, and turn on FSRS in its options, so your schedule comes with the cards.
4. Exporting and importing again later updates the cards instead of adding copies.

Enjoy the Process and Avoid Burnout

Learning a language should be enjoyable. If you're feeling exhausted, slow down. Remember, this isn't just about learning Polish; it's about getting used to Polish. Meeting Polish every day, even passively, makes it part of your daily life. Eventually, it becomes natural, comfortable, and even part of your identity.

If you consistently engage with the language through input, you'll soon find yourself thinking in Polish. When you've had enough exposure, the desire to speak will naturally emerge, and you won't need to force it. It'll come as naturally as breathing.

Don't Give Up: We're Always Here

Learning Polish is a journey, not a race. If life gets in the way and you take a break, that's fine. We'll always be here. Simply come back whenever you're ready, pick up exactly where you left off, and keep going.

Trust the process, keep reading and listening, keep reviewing, and above all, enjoy yourself. Polish will become a natural part of your life before you know it.