Food and drink in Polish

177 words on the topic

• kawa

  coffee

  Feminine, and the gender shows: ta kawa. It is brewed weaker than in Italy, and Poland grows plenty of its own kinds: kawa z mlekiem — "coffee with milk".
• herbata

  tea

  the h is sounded: "her-BAH-tah"
• woda

  water

  Matches sound and spelling at once. Ask for water in a café with plain woda and you will get sparkling; still water is niegazowana, requested separately.
• chleb

  bread

  A word the whole Slavic family shares, recognizable on sight. Masculine: ten chleb.
• mleko

  milk

  No full-vowelpattern here: the long form that some Slavic languages keep was cut to mleko. Neuter gender.
• piwo

  beer

  Matches sound and spelling letter for letter. Beer is measured by size: duże — large, małe — small.
• wino

  wine

  Matches sound and meaning at once. Poland is not a wine country — beer is the likelier order — but the word earns its keep in shops.
• jedzenie

  food

  From jeść, "to eat". Both the food and the process: jedzenie na wynos — "food to go".
• ser

  cheese

  Said exactly the way it is spelled. Cottage cheese here is biały ser — "white cheese" — and it is a different product under the same word.
• mięso

  meat

  said "MYEN-shoh" — the nasal ę gives the softness
• ryba

  fish

  Matches sound and meaning at once. On the coast the menu will offer dorsz — cod — and śledź — herring: by the sea, one eats the sea.
• sałatka

  salad

  Sałata is the leafy plant; sałatka is the dish. Where one word does both jobs in English, Polish keeps them strictly apart.
• zupa

  soup

  Matches sound and meaning at once. A Polish dinner starts with zupa pomidorowa or rosół — chicken broth with noodles.
• sól

  salt

  said "sool": ó is oo and ł is a w
• owoce

  fruit

  The plural of owoc, "a fruit". A false relative warns here: the word that looks like "vegetable" in several Slavic languages has nothing to do with it — vegetables are warzywa, and the two are constantly mixed up in shops.
• jabłko

  apple

  said "YAP-wko" — the ł swallows the vowel before it, and that is how it is said
• pomarańcza

  orange

  ń is a soft ny: "poh-mah-RANYN-chah"
• pomidor

  tomato

  The same Italian route as the word many languages took: pomo d'oro, "the golden apple". Recognizable at first sight.
• warzywa

  vegetables

  From warzyć, "to cook" — vegetables are what gets cooked. The partner of owoce, and mixing them up is the ordinary shop mistake.
• smacznie

  tasty

  From smak, "taste". The compliment to the cook: Bardzo smaczne!
• jeść

  to eat

  said "yeshch"
• pić

  to drink

  The present shifts its stem: piję, pijesz, pije. The drink itself is napój — a different root.
• świeży

  fresh

  The ż is that zh sound, and the ending is y, not the long ee of other adjectives: "SHVYE-zhih". Feminine świeża, neuter świeże.
• dojrzały

  ripe

  From dojrzeć, "to ripen" — the same root that once meant "to watch, to see" in half the family of languages. About a person in their prime a Pole says the same word.
• śniadanie

  breakfast

  The word the day starts with: jeść śniadanie — "to have breakfast", literally "to eat breakfast". In a hotel śniadanie w cenie — "breakfast included" — is the first line of any booking.
• obiad

  dinner, main meal

  The main meal of the day — and not in the evening, but at midday, about one o'clock. The word is the same as in several neighbors, but the hour it sits at is not.
• kolacja

  supper

  Supper, and a late one: Poles sit down at eight or nine in the evening. The old ceremonial word survives in the Bible; at the table it is kolacja.
• żuć

  to chew

  A short word with the zh sound, and the root is heard plainly. Chewing gum is guma do żucia — literally "rubber for chewing" — and it stands by every till.
• połykać

  to swallow

  From łyk, "a gulp": gulp gulp gulp — the prefix does the "again and again". The doctor says: połykać powoli.
• apetyt

  appetite

  The Latinism recognizes itself: apetyt. At the table a Pole wishes Smacznego! — literally "may it be tasty" — the word apetyt does not sound there. It lives in mam apetyt and nie mam apetytu.
• kawałek

  piece

  From kawał; in counting it works like "units": dwa kawałki — two pieces. A joke is kawał too — a piece, only made of words.
• zapach

  smell, scent

  From pachnąć, "to smell nice": za-pach is "what smells", and the verb pachnie lands softly. Neutral word: przyjemny zapach — "a pleasant scent". The bad kind is smród — already a stench.
• po jedzeniu

  after meals

  Po is "after", przed is "before meals", and the familiar jedzenie — food — simply stands in its case here: jedzeniu. The package will say exactly this.
• masło

  butter

  Butter only: the liquid kind is olej — two different words where English spends one. Bread with masłem is the breakfast classic.
• ziemniaki

  potatoes

  Literally "earthlings": from ziemia, the soil — that is where they grow. The singular is ziemniak, but one buys them by the kilo, and the plural is the shape that matters.
• mąka

  flour

  A nasal ą in the middle: "MON-kah". The flour is no sorrow here — that other word merely spells itself with a u.
• miód

  honey

  The ó is oo: "moot". Poland is a honey country: beehives stand in the forest, and the fir-honeydew kind is a delicacy.
• orzechy

  nuts

  The singular is orzech, but they are eaten by the handful, and speech almost always says orzechy. The walnut is włoski — "Italian" — and historically that is true.
• cebula

  onion

  A relative of the onion-words of the southern dialects. The spring onion is młoda cebula — "young" — and in spring it is at every market.
• marchew

  carrot

  One carrot is marchewka — the first kitchen word every child learns: marchewka do zupy. The collective marchew is what sits in the net bag.
• pieprz

  pepper (spice)

  Only the ground black kind: the vegetable is papryka — and mixing them up in the kitchen is a shame. Sneezing because of it is normal.
• fasola

  beans

  From the Italian, and the classic with it is fasolka po bretońsku — beans in tomato: in a canteen, dinner without it is no dinner.
• przyprawy

  spices

  From przyprawić, "to season": the things that "govern" the cooking. Always plural, as in English.
• gotować

  to cook

  From German, and it covers both "to cook" and "to boil" — no separate verb exists. Kto gotuje? — the question heard in every house.
• myć

  to wash

  Short as a gesture: myć. Hands are myć ręce, dishes are zmywać, laundry is prać — three verbs where English spends one.
• nóż

  knife

  The ż at the end goes voiceless, close to sh; once an ending follows, it buzzes again: noża. A blunt knife — tępy nóż — is more dangerous than a sharp one.
• ugotować

  to cook (until done)

  The perfective of gotować: cooked to the end, once and settled. The boiling is done with the same root — only the aspect differs.
• smażyć

  to fry

  Frying in oil, and the house smells of it. Fried cheese — smażony ser — is street food, and the queue for it is honest.
• piec

  to bake

  One word for the verb and the stove: piec bakes and is the oven. On Sundays, cake is baked at home — the smell of childhood.
• kroić

  to cut, to slice

  A short word for a short motion. The slice of bread is kromka chleba — and it is cut in the kitchen, not in the shop.
• garnek

  pot

  The pot-word of the neighbors is here a humble vessel, not an insult: garnek. A big one, with a lid — for soup for the whole family.
• patelnia

  frying pan

  Feminine: ta patelnia, and hot is gorąca. The fried eggs on it — jajecznica — are Polish breakfast number one.
• kuchenka

  stove, cooker

  A diminutive of kuchnia, the kitchen: the little kitchen is the stove. The electric kind is indukcja — and water boils on it faster than the tea.
• talerz

  plate

  From German, said "TAH-lesh" — the first thing one takes from the shelf. The deep one, głęboki talerz, is for soup.
• filiżanka

  cup (with saucer)

  From the Italian by way of Vienna: small, with a handle, for coffee. The bigger mug is kubek — tea on the road goes in that.
• szklanka

  glass

  From szkło, "glass" — and the glass here is glassy by right. Water in a glass is the most honest word pair there is.
• łyżka

  spoon

  The ł gives a w, and the familiar spoon-word takes effort to spot. The teaspoon is łyżeczka — and in the café the sugar goes in it.
• widelec

  fork

  From the little-forks word — the fork as small hay-forks. There are always a pair of them at the table, and the spoon stands to the side.
• butelka

  bottle

  The plastic one is butelka too, though no glass is in it — habit outranks material. The empty one is returned for the deposit — the kaucja you know.
• serwetka

  napkin

  From the French, and it is always on a Polish table: paper or cloth. Wiping your lips with it is not rude — it is required.
• czajnik

  kettle

  From the tea-word, a diminutive as everywhere. The electric czajnik lives in every Polish office and boils all day.
• taca

  tray

  One short word instead of a long one. Dinner arrives on it in hospital, and it has its own little wheels.
• gorący

  hot

  The nasal ą is heard as "on". The adverb gorąco you know; the adjective agrees: gorąca zupa, gorące mleko.
• zimny

  cold

  The partner of the familiar zimno: the adjective of the same root, a different shape. Cold water in the Baltic is no metaphor.
• głodny

  hungry

  A nasal ą. Hunger is głód, and the familiar hungry-words are the same family. Jestem głodny — a direct invitation to the table.
• smak

  taste

  You know the adverb smacznie — tasty: smak is both the taste of food and a person's taste. Smacznego! — the wish before the meal.
• słony

  salty

  From the familiar salt; the ó stays where it is. Oversalted is przesolone — and the prefix prze- again means "too much".
• kwaśny

  sour

  From kwas, "acid": the drink-word of the region is the same family, and that is no joke. Sauerkraut — kiszona kapusta — is the winter dish number one.
• gorzki

  bitter

  The familiar bitter-word is heard plainly: gorzki. Dark chocolate — gorzka czekolada — is the most honest dessert.
• ostry

  sharp, spicy

  Both the knife and the sauce are ostry: context decides, not the word. A Pole tastes the hot sauce carefully — and is right to.
• najedzony

  full, sated

  From jeść: na-jedzony is "eaten one's fill". Declining a second helping: Dziękuję, jestem najedzony — the polite full stop.
• próbować

  to try, to taste

  Both tasting and attempting: spróbuj jeszcze raz — try again. The perfective spróbować doubles as the polite request.
• menu

  menu

  The Latinism, said "MEH-noo". Menu dnia — the set lunch: soup and the main course for one price — the best way to eat in Poland.
• kelner

  waiter

  From the German cellar-word: the waiter was historically the "cellarer". A woman is kelnerka, and one calls her politely: Proszę!
• zamówienie

  order

  From zamawiać, "to order": the prefix za- works like the English one. The order in a café and the order online are one word.
• zamówić

  to order

  The present is zamawiam, while zamówić is once and for good. One orders a table, food and a taxi — all the same verb.
• danie

  dish (course)

  Talerz is the dishware; danie is what sits in it. Drugie danie — the second course, the hot one — and without it dinner is no dinner.
• porcja

  portion

  The Latinism is spotted at once. Portions in Poland are generous — and duża means it in earnest.
• stolik dla dwóch

  table for two

  The diminutive of stół, the table: stolik is what it is. Dla dwóch — "for two" — and people are counted differently from things.
• deser

  dessert

  From the French, said like its cousins. The Polish dessert is sernik, the cheesecake — and a slice is worth asking for.
• bez mięsa

  without meat

  Bez always pulls the of-form after it: bez mięsa, bez cukru — no exceptions. A vegetarian asks for danie bez mięsa.
• tort

  cake (layered)

  The same torte, stressed on the o. A slice is kawałek tortu — the same kawałek you know from bread.
• makaron

  pasta, noodles

  Singular in Polish: the pasta is ready. The shapes are called by diminutives: little screws, little ribbons.
• jogurt

  yogurt

  It came from the Balkans but is spotted at once and declines like a native. The plain one has no additives; the fruit kind says so.
• śmietana

  cream, sour cream

  One word covers both cream and soured cream — as in several neighbors. The percentages on the carton settle it: thirty is cream; twelve to eighteen is what others call sour cream.
• lody

  ice cream

  Plural only: the ice creams are good. One scoop is a "little ball" of them. The chocolate kind is the chocolate-adjective — the root from this very unit.
• czekolada

  chocolate

  The milk kind and the bitter kind — the bitter-adjective you know from tastes. A bar of it is literally a "little tablet" of chocolate.
• ciastko

  cookie, biscuit

  A small form of the dough-word: a cookie is a little dough. One cookie; with five or more, the of-form plural. The longer small form means the same, only more tender.
• wołowina

  beef

  From the ox-word: the meat of the ox, built like the English word. The veal is from the calf. For a goulash one takes exactly the beef.
• baranina

  mutton, lamb

  From the ram-word, built the same way. In Poland it is eaten less than pork; the young kind — lamb — turns up in restaurants more often.
• krewetki

  shrimps, prawns

  Plural only, as in English. From the blood-word: a cooked shrimp is red — hence it was named "bloody".
• winogrona

  grapes

  Plural only. From the familiar wine: the berries for wine. One berry is the singular; a bunch is a "bunch of grapes".
• ogórek

  cucumber

  The pickled cucumber is the winter food of the whole country; the lightly salted kind has its own name. The word carries an ó — the oo sound, as in the mountain.
• kapusta

  cabbage

  The sauerkraut is the base of winter cooking. Cabbage soup is called by an affectionate diminutive — the little cabbage soup.
• czosnek

  garlic

  One clove is a "little tooth" — from the tooth-word: the segment is named a tooth, as in English. Garlic bread is the garlic-adjective bread.
• dynia

  pumpkin

  In autumn pumpkins are everywhere in Poland: the soup takes its adjective from dynia. The dynasty-word only sounds alike — a different thing entirely.
• bakłażan

  aubergine, eggplant

  It arrived by way of Turkish but is spotted at once. The ł is w-shaped, so it is said with a zh in the middle. Fried in oil — and it drinks a lot of it.
• cytryna

  lemon

  Feminine, like the orange you know. Lemonade is its drink; the lime is a different word — not a small lemon.
• arbuz

  watermelon

  The summer table: a cold watermelon in the heat. The melon is a completely different word — at the market you will not mix them up.
• truskawka

  strawberry

  The summer berry; the season is June. The jam from it carries an adjective longer than the strawberry itself.
• gruszka

  pear

  A diminutive of the pear-tree: the pear is already a "little pear". The same word names the old doorbell button of an old house.
• brzoskwinia

  peach

  A heavy word — read it in parts, stress on the middle. The apricot is another word; the peach juice will meet you in every shop.
• przepis

  recipe

  From the writing verb: a recipe is what is written down. The pancake recipe is said with na; the prescription is the doctor's other word — two different words.
• obrać warzywa

  to peel the vegetables

  Peeling vegetables is the stripping verb: to take the skin off. Cleaning teeth is another verb — vegetables are stripped, teeth are cleaned.
• zagotować

  to bring to the boil

  The prefix za- drives it to boiling, from the familiar cooking verb. Beside it lives the short bubbling verb: the water is already boiling.
• wymieszać

  to mix, to stir

  The mixing verb, with the prefix that finishes the job. The whisk has its own onomatopoeic name; the blender is said the English way.
• posolić

  to add salt

  From the familiar salt. To oversalt takes one more prefix — and that prefix separates a good dinner from a catastrophe.
• podgrzać

  to reheat, to warm up

  The prefix is the "under" of warming under: to reheat, to warm through. Preheating the oven takes a different prefix — and a different gesture.
• ostudzić

  to cool (down)

  From the cool-noun: to cool is to give coolness. Its synonym says the same with a different sound. The cake is cut when it has cooled.
• ubić jajka

  to whisk, to beat the eggs

  The beating verb means whipped to fluffiness: cream is beaten with it too. The whites are beaten separately — said with one adverb.
• dolać wody

  to add water

  Water goes into the of-form, not the object form: "some water", a part rather than the whole — as with adding salt. English marks the same idea with "some".
• grillować

  to grill, to barbecue

  The Anglicism is spotted at once. Summer does not happen without it: grilling in the garden is nearly a family holiday.
• termin przydatności

  use-by date, shelf life

  Termin is the deadline-Latinism; the fitness-word is the usability from the useful-adjective. On the pack it is written shorter: best before.
• zepsuć się

  to go off, to spoil

  One word about milk and about the washing machine alike: the milk went off, the machine broke down. Off and broken is the participle you know.
• słoik

  jar (glass)

  A glass jar for cucumbers and jam. The tin can is a different word entirely: the jar is glass, the can is tin.
• dokładka

  second helping, extra portion

  From the adding-onto verb: to add another spoonful. The portion you know; the helping is what is laid on top of the portion.
• na wynos

  to take away, takeaway

  From the carrying-out verb: you will carry it out with you. At the till they ask: for here or to take away?
• bez cukru

  without sugar, sugar-free

  After bez always the of-form: without sugar, without salt, without milk — one rule for every food.
• jestem wegetarianinem

  I am a vegetarian

  The Latinism declines at length. A woman says the feminine form. The short way in a restaurant — "without meat", the phrase from the café unit.
• smacznego

  enjoy your meal

  Literally "of the tasty!" — the of-form of the tasty-adjective, with "I wish you" left unsaid. Said before every meal, even to strangers at the next table; the reply is "thank you, same to you".
• tłuste jedzenie

  fatty food

  From the fat-word. About a person the fat-adjective is not said that way: the plain fat-word does that — which you know.
• cukierek

  candy, sweet

  A diminutive of the sugar-word: a candy is a "little sugar". The chocolate kind you know — and the lollipop is the licking one.
• danie narodowe

  national dish

  The dish you know; the national-adjective from the familiar nation. The Polish national ones are dumplings and hunter's stew.
• jedzenie uliczne

  street food

  Assembled from the familiar: the food plus the street. The stall at a festival is its own word — and the van a Pole calls the English way.
• świeżo upieczony

  freshly baked

  Literally "freshly baked": piec is "to bake". The trap: about a person świeżo upieczony means "brand new" — a fresh graduate, a newlywed.
• czerstwy

  stale (bread)

  Yesterday's bread is czerstwy — dry and hard. About a person the same word works, as in English: a stale, hard-hearted one.
• wieprzowina

  pork

  Each animal's meat is its own word on -ina: pork wieprzowina, beef wołowina. Feminine.
• kurczak

  chicken (meat)

  The live bird is kura; on the plate and in the shop it is kurczak. Masculine but treated as animate: kupuję kurczaka.
• mięso z kaczki

  duck (meat)

  Kaczka is busy being the live bird; on the plate it is mięso z kaczki, literally "meat from duck" — both words are ones you have met.
• mielone

  minced meat

  No single word exists: mielić is "to grind", so the stuff is literally "ground". The full form is mięso mielone, but in the shop one word suffices.
• szynka

  ham

  Feminine; in the shop it is asked for by slices — plaster szynki, "a slice of ham", with the -i of the of-form. No look-alike anywhere to lean on.
• parówka

  frankfurter

  From para, "steam": the little sausage is steamed. Feminine; kiełbasa is the big salami-style sausage, and parówka is the thin kind.
• tuńczyk

  tuna

  Masculine; the tin for salad says tuńczyk w kawałkach — "in pieces". A can of it is puszka tuńczyka, with -a for "of". The ń is heard as a soft ny.
• łosoś

  salmon

  The ł gives a w sound: "WOH-sohsh". Masculine on a soft ś, and as an object it becomes łososia — the ending Polish gives to living creatures, even on a plate.
• krewetka

  shrimp

  Feminine with the diminutive -ka; at the counter they always come in the plural — krewetki. Said much the way it looks.
• owoce morza

  seafood

  Literally "fruits of the sea" — the same owoce from the fruit aisle. Always plural.
• śliwka

  plum

  The ś gives a soft "sh". Feminine; dried plums are suszone śliwki — the most Polish of winter sweets.
• malina

  raspberry

  Recognizable at once; feminine, plural maliny. From it they brew sok malinowy — raspberry juice for every ailment.
• melon

  melon

  Masculine in Polish — a fact several languages disagree with: melon jest dobry. The watermelon is a different word, arbuz.
• granat

  pomegranate

  The same word as the gemstone garnet. Masculine; it is eaten seed by seed, and peeling it is a job.
• ananas

  pineapple

  Written much as you expect; the second n changes nothing in the sound. Masculine; "of pineapple" is ananasa, as in sok z ananasa.
• mandarynka

  mandarin

  A diminutive shape; feminine, plural mandarynki. The smell of a Polish winter — mandarins at Christmas.
• kiwi

  kiwi (fruit)

  Declines in neither number: kiwi jest, dwa kiwi. Neuter.
• awokado

  avocado

  Neuter and barely declined: sałatka z awokado. The stress always sits on the second-to-last syllable.
• rodzynki

  raisins

  Plural only; one raisin is rodzynka. They go into baking and into cold drinks.
• figa

  fig

  Feminine, plural figi; dried figs are suszone figi. The phrase figa z makiem means "nothing at all, a trifle".
• papryka

  bell pepper

  Pieprz is taken by the ground spice; the vegetable from the bed is papryka, feminine. Red, green and yellow — counted by the piece.
• cukinia

  zucchini

  From Italian, feminine — and it is not the pumpkin: the pumpkin is dynia. Fried in rounds.
• burak

  beet

  Masculine, which sets it apart from its look-alikes elsewhere. The soup made from it is barszcz. Colloquially burak is also a "country bumpkin".
• rzodkiewka

  radish

  A diminutive of rzodkiew, the big black radish; the small garden radish goes by the small name. Feminine, rzodkiewki.
• zielenina

  herbs, greens

  A collective for parsley, dill and spring onion. Feminine; warzywa are vegetables — a different shelf.
• koperek

  dill

  Masculine with the diminutive -ek; the same plant, spoken of broadly, is koper. No pickled cucumber happens without it.
• pietruszka

  parsley

  The same word as the pet name for Piotr — the local "Peters". In the garden bed it is a herb, feminine.
• imbir

  ginger

  Masculine; "of ginger" is imbiru. Fresh root — świeży imbir; ground — mielony imbir; it goes into tea.
• kukurydza

  corn

  Feminine; the dz before a is heard as a "dz". Corn on the cob is kukurydza w kolbie; canned comes in a jar.
• szpinak

  spinach

  The sz gives a hard "sh". Masculine, as elsewhere; children dislike it in every language.
• bułka

  bread roll

  The ł gives a w: "BOO-wkah". Feminine; bułka z masłem — "a roll with butter" — is the Polish idiom for "no trouble at all".
• placek

  flat cake

  A warning about the look-alike: pieróg is a stuffed dumpling, not a cake. The Polish placek is flat, yeasty, topped with crumbs or fruit.
• ciasteczko

  pastry

  Ciastko is taken by the cookie; the pastry in the display case goes by the diminutive ciasteczko. Neuter, plural ciasteczka.
• pączek

  doughnut

  The nasal ą is heard as "on": "PON-chehk". Masculine, "of a doughnut" is pączka; on tłusty czwartek, Fat Thursday, they are eaten by the hundred.
• pieczywo

  baked goods

  Neuter, a collective from the verb piec, "to bake": bread and rolls in one word. The shop aisle is named exactly this.
• dżem

  jam

  The two letters dż make one sound, the j of "jam" — the word says itself. Masculine. Polish dżem is made from any fruit, not only citrus.
• syrop

  syrup

  Written with a y and heard with a tight "ih". Masculine; the raspberry one is syrop malinowy.
• popcorn

  popcorn

  A borrowing taken over as is. Masculine and without a plural: popcorn jest w kinie.
• chipsy

  chips

  Said "HEEP-sih": the ch is the throaty [x] sound. Always plural.
• guma do żucia

  chewing gum

  Guma is taken by rubber; chewing gum is guma do żucia, literally "rubber for chewing" — do puts the next word into its of-form, żucia.
• lemoniada

  lemonade

  Feminine; to a Pole it is above all the homemade lemon drink, not the shop bottle.
• woda mineralna

  mineral water

  You have met woda; the "mineral" follows as an adjective. In conversation it shrinks to just mineralna.
• woda gazowana

  sparkling water

  The partner of the still kind: gazowana — with gas, niegazowana — without; the prefix nie- does the negating.
• koktajl

  smoothie

  Spelled the way it sounds; masculine. The fruit kind in a café is usually non-alcoholic, and that is perfectly normal.
• kakao

  cocoa

  Neuter and almost undeclined: kakao jest, bez kakao. The word covers the drink itself too.
• kawa rozpuszczalna

  instant coffee

  You know kawa; the instant kind is marked by rozpuszczalna — "dissolvable", from rozpuszczać, "to dissolve".
• torebka herbaty

  tea bag

  Torebka on its own is a small bag; herbaty is the of-form of herbata, answering "a bag of what", just as on the box.
• wrzątek

  boiling water

  The nasal ą is heard as "on": "VZHONE-tehk". No single ready-made word: wrzeć is "to boil", so wrzątek is literally "the boiling stuff".
• alkohol

  alcohol

  The Latin-rooted word recognizes itself; masculine, with the of-form alkoholu. A drink without it is napój bezalkoholowy.
• napój

  drink, beverage

  From the familiar pić; masculine, the ó heard as "oo": "NAH-poo". Plural napoje.
• sok

  juice

  Masculine; the flavor is given by z plus the of-form: sok z jabłka — literally "juice from apple". Sok z pomarańczy works the same way.

How it sounds in a sentence

A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.

• Jedną kawę, proszę

  One coffee, please
• Wolę herbatę niż kawę

  I would rather have tea than coffee
• Proszę jeszcze szklankę wody

  Another glass of water, please
• Chleb kupuję w piekarni

  I buy bread at the bakery
• Do kawy dam trochę mleka

  I add a little milk to the coffee
• Jedno piwo, proszę

  One beer, please

What is worth knowing about these words

kawa — coffee. Feminine, and the gender shows: ta kawa. It is brewed weaker than in Italy, and Poland grows plenty of its own kinds: kawa z mlekiem — "coffee with milk".

herbata — tea. The word traveled from the east — the same road that carried the Latin herba. No traps for the ear, but the opening h must not be swallowed.

woda — water. Matches sound and spelling at once. Ask for water in a café with plain woda and you will get sparkling; still water is niegazowana, requested separately.

chleb — bread. A word the whole Slavic family shares, recognizable on sight. Masculine: ten chleb.

Test yourself

Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.

How to learn the set instead of just reading it

A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.

A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.

• Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many times
  Adesope, 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.
• Study spread over days wins not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many times
  Mawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.

Next

• All topics of the Polish language4011 words by topic and letter
• Greetings and goodbyes9 words
• Numbers and counting57 words
• At a café and a restaurant9 words
• Shopping and money82 words
• Asking the way18 words
• Why a word list doesn't sticka note