Buildings and premises in Polish
25 words in Polish on the topic “buildings and premises”: restauracja — restaurant, kawiarnia — coffeehouse, plac — square, sklep — shop.
25 words on the topic
- restauracjarestaurantA place with a full dinner and a bill. Cheaper and homier is the bar mleczny, the "milk bar", where soup still costs pennies.
- kawiarniacoffeehouseFrom kawa. A place people sit in for hours by design, not by abuse. The word itself arrived by way of the Italian cave.
- placsquareSaid with the same "ts" sound as its military cousin in several languages. Kraków's main square goes by the name Rynek — and it is a plac too.
- sklepshopA false friend with a body: it looks like the word for a burial vault in several languages, and the resemblance is real history — the shop once sat in a cellar, straight from the Latin crypta.
- targmarketThe same root as the trade words of half of eastern Europe: the market was the trading. The most famous one is Kraków's Cloth Hall on the Rynek.
- aptekapharmacyThe same Greek word several languages borrowed. The night one is apteka nocna, and you find it by search, not by the green cross.
- bankbankMatches sound and meaning at once. No false caution needed: bank really is a bank — the glass jar is słoik.
- dworzecstationA false friend inside the language itself: dwór is a manor, dworzec is a station. The bus stop is przystanek — do not mix the two.
- ladacounterNo kinship with any familiar word — the word came from Italian, and it names the counter in a shop and in a bank alike. And lada dzień is "any day now" — a different creature entirely.
- sklep spożywczygrocery storeSpożywczy comes from spożywać, "to consume food" — a "food shop" by construction. The signs you will meet: Żabka, Biedronka, Lidl.
- szpitalhospitalFrom the Latin hospitale by way of German; said "SHPITAH" and instantly recognizable. Said aloud, it sounds like a piece of very old vocabulary from this part of Europe.
- biuroofficeFrom the French bureau — the same root as the desk-word elsewhere. Biuro podróży is a travel agency, literally an "office of travels".
- uniwersytetuniversityThe Latinism recognizes itself whole. The oldest is the Jagiellonian in Kraków, from 1364 — half of Europe studied in it.
- szkołaschoolFrom the Greek word for "leisure": school began as free time — the history sits in the word. Primary is szkoła podstawowa, eight grades.
- pocztapost office, mailBoth the institution and the mail — and the root is shared: from the Latin posta. Email in speech is simply mejl.
- dworzec autobusowybus stationDworzec is taken by the railway station; the adjective from the familiar autobus does the distinguishing. The place form is na dworcu autobusowym.
- przystańlanding stageFeminine on a soft ń: the pier a boat pulls up to. The place form is przy przystani.
- kantorcurrency exchangeOne short word for "currency exchange office". Money is changed w kantorze — the ending shifts after w, just as biuro becomes w biurze.
- zoozooThe full form is ogród zoologiczny, but speech is content with zoo — neuter and unchanging: idziemy do zoo.
- cyrkcircusSaid with one y where other languages double the letter. Colloquially the same word covers a scandal with chaos in it — zrobić cyrk.
- remiza strażackafire stationYou know strażak, the firefighter; his house is remiza strażacka — trucks downstairs, duty crew upstairs. In speech one word, remiza, is enough.
- myjniacar washFrom myć, "to wash", built like pralnia, the laundry. The full form is myjnia samochodowa; the short one carries everyday talk. Place form: na myjni.
- biuro podróżytravel agencyLiterally "office of travels": biuro you know, and podróż crossed your path in cel podróży. No separate word for "agency" is used here.
- główna ulicamain streetGłówny is "main" — compare główny problem. In town it is główna ulica; the highway out of town is droga główna.
- kasa biletowaticket officeKasa and bilet you know; the adjective biletowa marks the ticket kind. Not to be confused with bankomat — the cash machine, a borrowing of the same make.
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.
- Ta restauracja jest otwarta do północyThis restaurant is open until midnight
- Spotkamy się w kawiarni o trzeciejWe will meet at the coffeehouse at three
- Spotkamy się na placuWe will meet on the square
- Sklep zamyka się o dwudziestejThe shop closes at eight
- W sobotę idziemy na targOn Saturday we are going to the market
- Gdzie jest najbliższa apteka?Where is the nearest pharmacy?
What is worth knowing about these words
restauracja — restaurant. A place with a full dinner and a bill. Cheaper and homier is the bar mleczny, the "milk bar", where soup still costs pennies.
kawiarnia — coffeehouse. From kawa. A place people sit in for hours by design, not by abuse. The word itself arrived by way of the Italian cave.
plac — square. Said with the same "ts" sound as its military cousin in several languages. Kraków's main square goes by the name Rynek — and it is a plac too.
sklep — shop. A false friend with a body: it looks like the word for a burial vault in several languages, and the resemblance is real history — the shop once sat in a cellar, straight from the Latin crypta.
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “restaurant” in Polish?
A place with a full dinner and a bill. Cheaper and homier is the bar mleczny, the "milk bar", where soup still costs pennies.
- How do you say “station” in Polish?
A false friend inside the language itself: dwór is a manor, dworzec is a station. The bus stop is przystanek — do not mix the two.
- How do you say “post office, mail” in Polish?
Both the institution and the mail — and the root is shared: from the Latin posta. Email in speech is simply mejl.
- How do you say “car wash” in Polish?
From myć, "to wash", built like pralnia, the laundry. The full form is myjnia samochodowa; the short one carries everyday talk. Place form: na myjni.
- How do you say “shop” in Polish?
A false friend with a body: it looks like the word for a burial vault in several languages, and the resemblance is real history — the shop once sat in a cellar, straight from the Latin crypta.
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
Where to go and what is done there. These words are read off a sign more often than they are spoken.
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 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.
- Study spread over days wins not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many timesMawson & 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.
Frequently asked
How do you say “restaurant” in Polish?
«restauracja». A place with a full dinner and a bill. Cheaper and homier is the bar mleczny, the "milk bar", where soup still costs pennies. It is one of 25 words in the set “buildings and premises” — the rest are in the table above.
How many words for buildings and places do you need to start?
The whole set on this page is 25 words, but there is no need to start with all of it: the words you will need in the next few days are enough. Take them a few at a time — five to seven new ones per session.