How to Use
Reading time: about 7 minutes
Learning Polish on Polish From Scratch is simple: follow each day'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 Day 1.
These are the letters that surprise English speakers:
| Letters | Sound like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| w | v in van | woda (water) |
| ł | w in water | mały (small) |
| j | y in yes | jajko (egg) |
| c | ts in cats | noc (night) |
| cz | ch in chair | czas (time) |
| sz | sh in shop | szafa (wardrobe) |
| rz, ż | s in measure | rzeka (river), żaba (frog) |
| ch, h | ch in Scottish loch | chleb (bread) |
| ć, ci | a soft ch, said with the middle of the tongue | ciepło (warm) |
| ś, si | a soft sh | środa (Wednesday) |
| ź, zi | a soft version of the s in measure | zima (winter) |
| dź, dzi | a soft j, as in jeans | dzień (day) |
| ń, ni | ny in canyon | koń (horse) |
| ó | the same as u: oo in book | góra (mountain) |
| y | i in bit | ryba (fish) |
| Ä…, Ä™ | o and e said partly through the nose | sÄ… (they are), idÄ™ (I'm going) |
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 memorize 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 emphasizes 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 day's lesson comes with clear instructions: simply follow along step by step. If you've comfortably finished a day's content, it's perfectly fine to continue to the next lesson. But don't rush, and take breaks if you're tired. Enjoying the process is crucial; if you don't, burnout is inevitable.
Using a Lesson Page
Every lesson is one short conversation: the situation under the title, then each line in Polish with its English translation. These settings help as you go:
- Hide English covers the translations with soft bars so you can test yourself. Tap a covered line to peek at it.
- Word hints: point at a Polish word (or tap it) to see which English words it means, and the other way round. With Hide English on, it uncovers just that word.
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: E hides or shows the English, and the ← → arrows go to the previous or next day.
When you've finished a lesson, press Mark as done. Your progress is saved in your browser (no sign-up), and the course page and the menu then show where you left off. If you spot a mistake in a line, press the small flag next to it to tell us.
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, children and teenagers, 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.
Maximizing 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 emphasizes 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.
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.
If this free course has helped you in your Polish journey, please consider supporting the project. It's a one-person effort, and even small contributions help keep it running and free for everyone.