People and family in Polish

138 words on the topic

• przyjaciel

  close friend

  The word borrowed by several languages for a casual buddy means real friendship here. A mere acquaintance is znajomy — the difference is heard.
• rodzina

  family

  One root with the words for "kin and birth": family is the people you were born with. Not to be confused with the word for a war band it happens to resemble.
• mama

  mum

  In address, this is exactly what people say: mama. The official word, the one documents use, is matka.
• tata

  dad

  Everyday is tata, affectionate tatuś. The official ojciec sounds ceremonial, the way "father" does.
• dziecko

  child

  Neuter: to dziecko. Two children are dwoje dzieci — Polish counting treats children in its own special way.
• sprzedawca

  shop assistant

  From sprzedać, "to sell" — the root says itself. A woman is sprzedawczyni, and at the market counter it is more often her.
• klient

  customer

  The same Latin root as the English word, and the same wide job: the customer of a shop, a bank, a hairdresser. The bookish kupiec, "merchant", is not heard at the market.
• człowiek

  human, person

  The plural ignores the rule: not człowieki but ludzie, "people". At the start you hear "chwo-VYEK" — and the word is a close cousin of its counterparts across the region.
• mężczyzna

  man

  A spelling trap: at the ę you hear a plain e, and the cz is softer than it looks. A noun ending in -a that is nonetheless masculine: ten mężczyzna. The door of the gents' room carries exactly this word.
• kobieta

  woman

  Said "koh-BYEN-tah" — the ie softens the b. A wife is żona, and the difference is a whole life: kobieta is a woman, żona is a wife — mixing them up offends both.
• młodzieniec

  young man

  From młody, "young". A bookish word; living speech says chłopak — "guy, lad" — and every mother knows that word.
• dziewczyna

  girl, girlfriend

  Said "DZYEV-CHIH-nah". It is neutral: a girl, and also one's girlfriend. The boy is chłopak, and together they are that very para.
• staruszek

  old man (affectionate)

  An affectionate diminutive of stary: literally "oldie". About an elderly person a Pole prefers starszy pan; staruszek is already warm, almost "granddad".
• nieznajomy

  stranger

  Nie- plus znajomy, "an acquaintance" — and znajomy also means a buddy, halfway between friend and neighbor. A stranger woman is nieznajoma. Nie rozmawiaj z nieznajomymi — mothers were right in every language.
• tłum

  crowd

  A short word, and the ł is a w: "twu". Stress on the first syllable. At the market on Saturday it is exactly this: a crowd, crowds of people.
• sąsiad

  neighbor

  A nasal ą at the start — the ear hears "son-SHAD". A neighbor woman is sąsiadka. The noisy one is głośny sąsiad — an evergreen topic.
• cudzoziemiec

  foreigner

  Literally "of-foreign-lands": cudzy is "someone else's", ziemie is "lands". A woman is cudzoziemka, and the abroad is zagranica — a word of the same family.
• recepcjonista

  receptionist

  The same recepcja plus -ista, "the specialist": like the language-specialist words ending in -ista. A woman is recepcjonistka — and at night she is alone for the whole hotel.
• rybak

  fisherman

  From the familiar ryba: the -ak suffix turns a fish into a man. In Gdynia the fishermen go out to sea before dawn, and the herring there is their own.
• włosy

  hair

  The plural of włos, one hair: pojedynczy włos. The old bookish word of the region is the same family.
• wysoki

  tall, high

  About a person, a price and a skyscraper alike: wysoki covers all the high. The comparative is wyższy, with a zh as in the long-word.
• niski

  short, low

  About a person the politer word is nieduży — "not big"; niski is honest but not said to the face. A ceiling is niski without offense.
• młody

  young

  The ł in the middle is a w: "MWO-dih". The comparative is młodszy — and the younger brother, młodszy brat, is the same shape.
• broda

  beard

  The beard is broda, while brodawka is a wart: one suffix apart. Letting it grow is puszczać brodę — popular in winter.
• wąsy

  moustache

  Always plural, as in English, with a nasal ą in the middle. One moustache hair is wąs — said only in the movies.
• chudy

  thin, skinny

  The first sense is "skinny", and it is not rude: people are said to be chudy without offense. The lean-word is the same, and it lives on in "to slim down".
• gruby

  fat, thick

  About a person, a book and a sweater alike: gruby is all the thick. The rude-word of English does not fit inside: rude is niegrzeczny.
• przystojny

  handsome

  A trap nearby: sympatyczny is "pleasant to talk to", while looks are judged with przystojny about a man and ładny about anyone. The false-friend translation would be heard backwards.
• wygląd

  looks, appearance

  From wyglądać, "to look like": the "look-giving" itself. Na wygląd — "to look at, by appearance" — an everyday turn.
• dobry

  good, kind

  One word for "good" and "kind": dobry człowiek is both a good and a kind person. The adverb dobrze you know; here only the -y shape.
• wesoły

  cheerful

  The ł in the middle is a w. The merriment — wesele — is also the wedding: a merry feast, once in a lifetime.
• mądry

  wise, smart

  A nasal ą in the middle. The sage-word of the region is the same, only there it retired to philosophy — here mądry is anyone bright.
• wredny

  nasty, mean-spirited

  The dictionary "mean" is zły, which you know: bad and mean at once. Wredny is the one who does things out of spite — and the harm-word of the region helps you remember.
• spokojny

  calm, quiet

  From spokój, "calm": the all-is-well nod — spoko — comes from here. A calm lake is spokojne jezioro, and so is the morning.
• uprzejmy

  polite

  A Pole is polite with prepositions: proszę, dziękuję, przepraszam — and that is uprzejmość in action. The adjective itself is uprzejmy, with the usual stress.
• leniwy

  lazy

  Shorter than its cousins: leniwy. Laziness is len, the lazybones is leniuch — and on Sunday everyone is a bit of a leniuch.
• odważny

  brave

  From waga, "weight": courage here is "weightiness", odwaga. The brave one is called odważny — the hero of every fairy tale.
• uczciwy

  honest

  The root is cześć, "honor": honest as "honor-holding". A fair price is announced plainly: uczciwa cena.
• charakter

  character

  The Latinism is spotted at once, stress in the middle. The Polish one has plenty: charakter polski is a topic for long evenings.
• kelner

  waiter

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

  curly

  From the twisting verb: curls are twisted hair. Straight hair is the plain-adjective word.
• łysy

  bald

  The ł is heard as w, so the word lands oddly on the ear — and means the opposite of what it half-sounds like. The bald patch and going bald are built from it.
• siwy

  grey (of hair)

  Only about hair and beards. The ordinary grey-color word is not used for greying — the hair kind keeps its own.
• wzrost

  height (of a person)

  Both a person's height and the rise of prices — you have already read that one. One asks plainly: what is your height?
• szczupły

  slim, slender

  A compliment, not a diagnosis: slim. The skinny-word sounds insulting about a person, the fat-word too — both you know.
• średniego wzrostu

  of medium height

  The whole phrase is an of-form, just like English "of medium height" — no preposition needed. Personal ads and police descriptions both use exactly this formula.
• szczodry

  generous

  Two words serve "generous" — this one and its more solemn twin. The opposite is the stingy-word.
• cierpliwy

  patient

  From the enduring verb: patience is its noun. With children and in queues there is no getting by without this adjective.
• pracowity

  hard-working, industrious

  From the familiar work-word. Its full opposite is the lazy-word from the feelings unit.
• niezawodny

  reliable, dependable

  Literally "not-failing": to fail someone is the verb inside. About a person and about an old car alike — a reliable mechanism.
• skromny

  modest

  About a person and about a life: a modest breakfast, and a modest person does not boast. The Latinism is spotted at once.
• towarzyski

  sociable, outgoing

  From the company-word: he likes company. From here too the friendly match — the word really is about company.
• opiekuńczy

  caring

  From the care-word: built the way the English one is. The soft nasal in the middle. Care for the sick is care over the sick.
• poważny

  serious

  About a person and about an illness: a serious illness. Not to be confused with the important-word — the prefix shifts it into weight and gravity.
• dobrze wychowany

  well-mannered, well-brought-up

  Almost always with an adverb: well or badly brought up. From the raising verb; the opposite is badly brought up.
• poczucie humoru

  sense of humor

  Polish says the feeling-perception word where English says "sense". Humor is the Latinism, spotted at once: to have a sense of humor.
• chciwy

  greedy

  Greed for money and gain: greedy for money. The stingy-word is the one who will not spend; this one is the one who wants to take a lot. Polish draws the line clearly.
• uparty

  stubborn

  From the persistence-word: to fight persistently. Insisting on one's own is the matching reflexive — one nest.
• brutalny

  brutal, coarse

  The Latinism is spotted at once. In Polish it is both "coarse" about a person and "brutal" about an act: brutal honesty.
• bezczelny

  cheeky, insolent

  The insolence is its noun. The indignant question "how can you be so cheeky?" sounds in every family.
• chytry

  cunning, crafty

  Cunning in trade: the crafty merchant. The friendlier word is the smart one — and by ear do not mix it with the cheap-word.
• gadatliwy

  talkative

  From the chatting verb; the chatter is its noun. A talkative neighbor will tell you everything. Not to be confused with the species-word — a similar start, a foreign sense.
• roztargniony

  absent-minded, scatterbrained

  Literally "pulled apart", from the hauling verb — the English word is built the same way, which is why it memorizes itself.
• porywczy

  hot-tempered

  From the rush-word: he flares up at half a turn, as everywhere. Wrath is the solemn word, anger the everyday one — both from the course.
• obojętny

  indifferent

  Literally "both-same": to him it is all one. "It is indifferent to me" — the polite way of saying one does not care.
• nawyk

  habit

  From the getting-used-to verb. "Out of habit", and a bad habit — a standing phrase.
• przyjaciółka

  close friend (female)

  The feminine of the close friend: specifically a close friend, not a girlfriend in a pair — that one is the girlfriend-word. The colleague-word is a work or school pal.
• znajomy

  acquaintance

  From the knowing-someone verb. The difference is pronounced out loud: "he is not a friend, just an acquaintance". And its negation is the stranger from the shopping unit.
• talent

  talent, gift

  The Latinism is spotted at once. About a gifted child they say the participial adjective — but most often you will hear simply "he has talent".
• urodzić się

  to be born

  To be born — and the particle się is obligatory. The birth certificate is the birth-act from the documents; the birthday is its plural cousin — one nest.
• dzieciństwo

  childhood

  From the child-word, built like the English one. The -stwo tail turns a root into a state: marriage-hood is built the same way.
• młodość

  youth, young years

  From the young-adjective. Polish keeps no separate word for youth beside young years: both are one. The younger generation takes its own word.
• dorosłe życie

  adult life

  From the grown-up-adjective, of the same root as growing to: one grows to and becomes adult. "Grown-up children" is a frequent turn.
• pokolenie

  generation

  From the knee: a generation is the "knees" of the family, a line from knee to knee — the same image as the English phrase of yore. The word half-recognizes itself.
• rodzinne miasto

  home town

  The family-adjective is from the family: a home town is literally a "family town", the place where the family is. About a language one says it differently — the fatherly tongue.
• mieszkać w kraju pięć lat

  to live in the country for five years

  No perfective prefix is needed: the term simply stands beside — to live somewhere five years. The country-word means both country and region, as its cousins do.
• wspomnienie

  memory, recollection

  From the recalling verb. The keepsake-memory a Pole calls differently — from the memory-root: do not swap the words.
• stare zdjęcie

  old photograph

  In speech most often just the snapshot-word — from the taking-off verb. The longer photograph-word is said too, but "to take a photo" is the commonest phrase.
• los

  fate, lot

  One word for fate, lot and lot in the drawing sense. "Such is fate" — and to draw lots is its verb: fate is literally drawn like a lottery.
• zacząć nowe życie

  to start a new life

  There is a shorter way too — "to start from new", start anew. The starting verb takes the object form or another verb: he started working.
• założyć rodzinę

  to start a family

  A Pole does not "start" a family — he "founds" one: the same verb as founding a firm and opening an account.
• bogaty

  rich, wealthy

  One root with the rich-words of the region, through the god-word: rich is "enriched". About a person and about content alike: rich in vitamins.
• biedny

  poor, needy

  One root with the poor-words of the region: poor in money and pitiable at once, as in English. The pauper is the noun of the same nest.
• współlokator

  flatmate, roommate

  Literally a "co-dweller": the together-prefix plus the tenant Latinism. The neighbor of the house is the neighbor-word; of the flat — precisely this one.
• przyjaciel z dzieciństwa

  childhood friend

  Both words familiar: the close friend and the childhood. The preposition here is "from", not "with": a friend from the childhood years.
• znany

  famous, well-known

  From the knowing verb: famous is literally "known". A trap: it also means acquainted — a known picture may be one you know personally.
• silny

  strong

  From the strength-word: strong is "strength-y", built as in English. A strong person, wind and coffee — all this word; the other strong is said less.
• rozsądny

  sensible, reasonable

  From the court-word: sensible is "soundly judging". Not to be confused with the understanding verb — one prefix, different words.
• dobroć

  kindness

  From the good-adjective: kindness, by the -ness pattern. It ends in a consonant yet is feminine — its of-form, ending in -i, gives that away.
• opanowanie

  self-possession, composure

  From the ruling verb — holding, commanding: the holding of oneself. With great composure. The endurance of the body is another word.
• cierpliwość

  patience

  From the enduring verb: patience. The patient-adjective is already in the course; the noun is built from it by the -ness template. Losing one's patience is said with the losing verb.
• egoizm

  egoism, selfishness

  The Latinism is spotted at once. The egoist and the egoistic take the same shape. A close cousin with a softer face: self-absorption.
• lenistwo

  laziness

  From the lazy-adjective: laziness — a state and a character at once. The lazybones is colloquial, said with a smile.
• upór

  stubbornness, obstinacy

  From the stubborn-adjective — already in the course: the noun of the same family. A child's stubbornness; repeating stubbornly. Feminine on a consonant.
• ciekawość

  curiosity

  From the interesting/curious adjective — already in the course: interesting and curious are one word, and so is the noun. Curiosity about the world — the warm kind.
• uczciwość

  honesty, integrity

  From the honest-adjective: one word covers both honesty and integrity. The honestly-adverb: earned honestly.
• zaradność

  resourcefulness

  From the coping verb — managing, finding one's way with a situation: resourcefulness. A resourceful man is one who copes in any situation. A relative of the advice-word.
• beztroska

  carefreeness, insouciance

  Literally "without cares": carefreeness. The word is warmer than judging: a carefree childhood.
• zdecydowany

  decisive, resolute

  From the deciding-oneself verb: decisive. A firm no, a resolute step. The decisiveness is its noun.
• nieśmiały

  shy, timid

  Literally "not-bold": not plus the bold-adjective. A shy smile, a shy voice. The shyness is built by the same -ness template.
• obrażalski

  touchy, quick to take offence

  From the taking-offence verb: touchy — the one who takes offence easily. Do not be touchy. Careful: the insulting-adjective is the one who insults — the mirror.
• ugodowy

  accommodating, conciliatory

  From the agreement-word — a compromise: accommodating, ready for agreement. An accommodating character, a compromise solution.
• drobiazgowy

  meticulous, painstaking

  From the trifle-word: the one who catches trifles. A meticulous inspection. The neutral word of the same job — the precise-adjective you know.
• samouwielbiony

  self-admiring, vain

  Literally "self-adored": the self plus the adoring verb — the one who likes himself too much. Pride in the good sense is the proud-adjective; arrogance is another.
• uczynny

  obliging, helpful

  From the doing-for-someone verb: obliging, helpful. An obliging neighbor — one who always helps. The compassionate heart is the sympathising participle.
• zamknięty w sobie

  withdrawn, closed off

  Literally "closed in himself": the turn hints that it is about a person, not a door. In one word they say the reserved-adjective — but this one sounds livelier.
• prostolinijny

  straightforward, blunt

  Literally "straight-lined": speaks straight, with no detours. A straightforward answer. A rough bluntness is named by the familiar stern-adjective.
• nieprzewidywalny

  unpredictable

  The negation is assembled in plain sight: not plus the predictable. About a person and about the weather alike.
• posłuchać

  to listen to, to heed (once)

  The perfective partner of the listening verb, here meaning "to obey": Listen to your mother! — mother in the of-form, no preposition. Heeding advice works the same way.
• chwalić się

  to boast, to show off

  The familiar praising verb with się: praising oneself. It takes z plus the instrumental: boasting about the new car. The base card promised it.
• obgadywać

  to gossip about, to bad-mouth

  From the chatting verb: talking about someone behind their back. Bad-mouthing the neighbors. The gossip-noun is another word — and its verb is the gossipy one.
• symulować

  to feign, to fake

  A Latinism: to simulate, to feign. Faking sleep. The familiar pretending-that does the same — and also pretends to be something.
• powstrzymać się

  to refrain, to hold oneself back

  The holding-back verb with the perfective prefix: to hold oneself. He barely refrained from laughing. Careful: holding someone back is about the other person.
• zrobić kawał

  to play a joke on, to prank

  The piece-word — and here a joke, an anecdote: playing a joke on someone. On the first of April it is a national sport.
• skłamać

  to tell a lie (once)

  The perfective — telling a lie once; the imperfective brother lies constantly. Telling one sounds softer than the plain lying: sometimes it is a mere politeness.
• podsłuchać

  to eavesdrop, to overhear (deliberately)

  The under-prefix plus the listening: listening from behind the door. Eavesdropping on a conversation. Peeping is built with the same under-prefix.
• narzucać się

  to impose oneself, to foist oneself

  From the throwing-over verb: forcing oneself, unasked. I do not want to impose — the polite exit from someone else's plan.
• dotrzymać słowa

  to keep one's word

  Literally "to hold the word": keeping one's word and keeping a promise. The familiar word here stands in its contractual role.
• zasłużyć

  to deserve, to earn (a reward)

  One word for deserving: deserving a reward — after na! A relative of the familiar serving verb: served — and deserved.
• zarzucić

  to reproach, to throw in someone's face

  Literally "to throw over" someone: to cast a reproach. He reproached me for being late. After it either "that" or the dative with the instrumental: throwing laziness in someone's face.
• pochwalić

  to praise (once)

  The base card promised it: praising in general versus praising once, brought to the end. Praising the child in front of the class. Praise oneself — the reflexive from the character unit.
• potępić

  to condemn (once)

  The imperfective condemns as a stance; the perfective partner condemns once and for all. Do not condemn him so quickly.
• zawieść

  to let down, to disappoint

  Literally "to drive to the wrong place": to betray expectations. You let me down! One letter decides: driving someone home versus letting them down.
• specjalnie

  on purpose, deliberately

  From the familiar special-adjective: on purpose. Livelier than the aiming adverb and commoner with vexation: You did that on purpose!
• z głupoty

  out of stupidity

  The stupidity-noun in the of-form after z: out of stupidity. He did it out of stupidity, not out of anger. Next to it: out of ignorance.
• z dobrych intencji

  with the best of intentions

  The intention is a Latinism. The English "best" Polish softens: from good intentions; in the saying the paving of the road to hell.
• to nieładnie

  that is not nice (of you)

  The commonest remark in a Polish family: That is not nice of you. The familiar pretty-word — and this negation writes the family rulebook.
• nie na złość

  not out of malice

  The anger-noun — a relative of the familiar angry-adjective: not out of malice — literally "not onto the anger".
• zaufanie

  trust (as a feeling)

  From the familiar trusting verb: trust. Losing trust; the formula from the films: trust is built over years and lost in a moment.
• zazdrość

  envy

  Feminine on a consonant. The envying verb takes the dative: I envy you — said almost as a compliment. The jealous-adjective serves love as well.
• litość

  pity, compassion

  From the pitying verb: pity over someone — the preposition is its own. Out of pity. Sounding haughty: I pity you.
• wpływ

  influence

  From the flowing-in verb: an influence on. Under the influence — and under the drink too: driving under the influence.
• autorytet

  authority (as standing)

  The Latinism is spotted at once. Enjoying authority — with the instrumental. An authority is also an authoritative person: an authority in medicine.
• wzajemnie

  mutually, likewise

  From the mutual-adjective: respect must be mutual. To the thank-you a Pole answers likewise — the same to you.
• jak równy z równym

  as an equal, on equal footing

  Literally "as equal with equal": the instrumental after z. The familiar on-equal-terms is about place and standing; this about the manner of talking.
• dogadać się

  to get along, to come to an understanding

  From the chatting verb: to come to an understanding, to find a common language. They got along quickly. A trap: the frequentative is about snapping back.
• trzymać się z daleka

  to stay out of it, to keep one's distance

  Literally "to hold oneself from afar": keeping away from a quarrel — od plus the of-form. Its twin: not meddling.
• ludzie

  people

  The plural of człowiek, "a human being", is irregular — the pair simply has to be learned together. After words of quantity it turns into ludzi: dużo ludzi, "a lot of people".

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.

• Mój przyjaciel jest z Gdańska

  My close friend is from Gdańsk
• Cała rodzina była w gościach

  The whole family was visiting
• Mama gotuje obiad

  Mum is cooking dinner
• Tata naprawia samochód

  Dad is fixing the car
• Dziecko śpi

  The child is sleeping
• Sprzedawca mówi powoli

  The shop assistant speaks slowly

What is worth knowing about these words

przyjaciel — close friend. The word borrowed by several languages for a casual buddy means real friendship here. A mere acquaintance is znajomy — the difference is heard.

rodzina — family. One root with the words for "kin and birth": family is the people you were born with. Not to be confused with the word for a war band it happens to resemble.

mama — mum. In address, this is exactly what people say: mama. The official word, the one documents use, is matka.

tata — dad. Everyday is tata, affectionate tatuś. The official ojciec sounds ceremonial, the way "father" does.

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

Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.

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
• Food and drink177 words
• At a café and a restaurant9 words
• Shopping and money82 words
• Why a word list doesn't sticka note