nie dotykać
“nie dotykać” — do not touch (sign) in Polish. Phrase, level A2, topic — phrases that save you. Informally: nie dotykaj. But on signs the Pole writes the infinitive: Nie dotykać! — the sign speaks to everyone at once. From tykać, "to touch". In a live sentence: “Nie dotykać, świeża farba” — Do not touch — fresh paint. One of 17 words in the set “phrases that save you” in the Polish course.
In short
| Written in Polish | nie dotykać |
| Translation | do not touch (sign) |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Informally: nie dotykaj. But on signs the Pole writes the infinitive: Nie dotykać! — the sign speaks to everyone at once. From tykać, "to touch".
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Nie dotykać, świeża farbaDo not touch — fresh paint
Nearby words: phrases that save you
“I don't understand”, “say that again”, “slower, please”, “help”. They are learned first for a reason: they bring back a conversation that has already gone wrong.
- nie rozumiemI do not understandRozumieć is "to understand" — a cousin of English "to reckon with", same idea of working something through. The negation nie stands apart and refuses to fuse.
- powolislowlyLiterally "at a walk's pace" — unhurried. The most useful word of the first week: Proszę mówić powoli.
- proszę powtórzyćrepeat, pleaseLiterally "I ask [you] to repeat". An infinitive after proszę and the request is complete — the politeness is already inside proszę.
- czy mówisz po angielsku?do you speak English?Czy at the front turns any phrase into a question. Languages are spoken "adverbially": po angielsku is literally "in-the-English-way". Politely: Czy mówi Pan(i) po angielsku?
- ratunku!help! (emergency)Literally "of rescue" — the shout, one word only: Ratunku! The calmer pomoc is "help" as a thing: Potrzebuję pomocy — "I need help".
- zgubiłem sięI am lostł here is a w: "zgoo-BEE-woh shcheh"
- nie działanot workingFrom działać, "to operate". About machines: Winda nie działa. About a person the same two words mean "he is not working" — context does the separating.
- proszę chwilę poczekaćwait a moment, pleaseLiterally "I ask you to wait an instant" — a Pole counts not minutes but chwile. Informal: poczekaj chwilę, the same frame: proszę plus the infinitive.
- nie mogę otworzyćI cannot openMogę is the personal "can" that the hint to można warned about. An infinitive follows: Nie mogę otworzyć drzwi. Nie wolno mi — "I am not allowed" — is a different beast, and not to be confused.
- pogotowieambulance serviceLiterally "on readiness" — from the familiar gotowy, and gotówka is from the same nest. The single emergency number is 112 — here as across Europe.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “phrases that save you”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “do not touch (sign)” in Polish?
Informally: nie dotykaj. But on signs the Pole writes the infinitive: Nie dotykać! — the sign speaks to everyone at once. From tykać, "to touch".
- How do you say “not working” in Polish?
From działać, "to operate". About machines: Winda nie działa. About a person the same two words mean "he is not working" — context does the separating.
- How do you say “repeat, please” in Polish?
Literally "I ask [you] to repeat". An infinitive after proszę and the request is complete — the politeness is already inside proszę.
- How do you say “ambulance service” in Polish?
Literally "on readiness" — from the familiar gotowy, and gotówka is from the same nest. The single emergency number is 112 — here as across Europe.
- How do you say “I am lost” in Polish?
Literally "lost myself" — the particle się is obligatory. A woman says Zgubiłam się: the Polish past tense knows the speaker's gender.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “do not touch (sign)” in Polish?
«nie dotykać». In a live sentence: “Nie dotykać, świeża farba” — Do not touch — fresh paint. Phrase, level A2, from the set “phrases that save you”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Informally: nie dotykaj. But on signs the Pole writes the infinitive: Nie dotykać! — the sign speaks to everyone at once. From tykać, "to touch". A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.