Pronouns in Polish
27 words in Polish on the topic “pronouns”: ja — I, ty — you (informal), wy — you (plural), on — he.
27 words on the topic
- jaIUsually dropped in speech: the verb ending has already named the person. Jestem on its own means "I am".
- tyyou (informal)People your own age move to first names quickly, but the older person or the woman is the one who offers it first.
- wyyou (plural)Plain "you" about several people at once. To one adult stranger a Pole says Pan or Pani instead: Czy Pan wie? rather than Czy wy wiecie?
- onheSame shape as several familiar words, same meaning. Just remember: one is not "they" — one is women and everything non-human.
- onasheMatches sound and meaning at once — the kind of word that memorizes itself.
- myweSaid the way it is spelled, an honest look-alike. The verb with my is an ordinary plural: my jesteśmy — "we are".
- my dwojethe two of usLiterally "we two". The verb stays an ordinary plural: My dwoje jesteśmy razem. There is no special two-of-us grammar to learn here.
- onithey (with a man)Only about people, and only if at least one man is in the group. Women, children and things are one — swapping them is heard at once.
- mójmyDeclines like an adjective: mój dom, but moja kawa, moje piwo. The ó is heard as "oo": "mooey".
- twójyour (informal)The partner of mój and it changes the same way: twój klucz, twoja kawa. In polite speech Pan and Pani stand in for it.
- naszourThe same root as several familiar "us" words. Feminine nasza, neuter nasze — it behaves like an adjective.
- waszyour (plural)About several owners. To one stranger a Pole goes through Pan: Czy Pan ma klucz? rather than wasz klucz.
- jegohis, her, theirOne English idea, three Polish words: jego is "his", jej "her", ich "their". All three are accepted as answers to this card's meaning.
- swójone's ownObligatory in a way English never demands: mam swój pokój — "I have my own room", while mam twój pokój means the room is someone else's. Declines like mój.
- samby myselfBoth "myself" and "on my own": idę sam — I am going alone, no company. Feminine sama — the word changes in curious ways.
- wszystekall (the whole lot)The dictionary form of the familiar wszystko, "everything": wszystkie dzieci — "all the children". About a whole day a Pole says cały, which you already have.
- każdy zeach ofZ here means "of" and takes the of-form: każdy z nas — "each of us". On its own każdy is simply "each, every".
- dowolnyanyAn adjective, so it agrees in gender: dowolny dzień, dowolna godzina. Shops write it too: dowolna ilość — "any quantity".
- tenthisThree shapes, one per gender: ten chleb, ta kawa, to piwo. You have long been seeing the to shape in every To jest... phrase.
- tamtenthatAssembled from tam, "there", plus ten, "this": the "that-there one". Feminine tamta, neuter tamto.
- takisuchChanges with gender: taki, taka, takie. Taki sam — "the same" — is also in this wave.
- innyother, differentClose to "other" in shape and identical in sense. Not drugi — that one means "second"; here Polish is stricter than English.
- żadennone, no (at all)It demands a second nie at the verb: żaden sklep nie jest otwarty — the double negation is obligatory; without it the phrase is wrong.
- ktośsomeoneOnly about a person, and it declines: kogoś — of someone, komuś — to someone. The partner of the familiar coś, "something".
- cokolwiekanything at allThe strong version of the familiar coś: zjem cokolwiek — "I will eat anything at all". In a neutral phrase a Pole says plain coś.
- nikt znone ofNikt you know — here with a choice: nikt z nas. The verb still takes its nie: nikt z nas nie śpi.
- nicnothingThe verb with it takes nie: nic nie widzę — "I can't see anything". The same word answers "no harm done": nic, dzięki.
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.
What is worth knowing about these words
ja — I. Usually dropped in speech: the verb ending has already named the person. Jestem on its own means "I am".
ty — you (informal). People your own age move to first names quickly, but the older person or the woman is the one who offers it first.
wy — you (plural). Plain "you" about several people at once. To one adult stranger a Pole says Pan or Pani instead: Czy Pan wie? rather than Czy wy wiecie?
on — he. Same shape as several familiar words, same meaning. Just remember: one is not "they" — one is women and everything non-human.
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “I” in Polish?
Usually dropped in speech: the verb ending has already named the person. Jestem on its own means "I am".
- How do you say “they (with a man)” in Polish?
Only about people, and only if at least one man is in the group. Women, children and things are one — swapping them is heard at once.
- How do you say “by myself” in Polish?
Both "myself" and "on my own": idę sam — I am going alone, no company. Feminine sama — the word changes in curious ways.
- How do you say “other, different” in Polish?
Close to "other" in shape and identical in sense. Not drugi — that one means "second"; here Polish is stricter than English.
- How do you say “you (informal)” in Polish?
People your own age move to first names quickly, but the older person or the woman is the one who offers it first.
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
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 “I” in Polish?
«ja». Usually dropped in speech: the verb ending has already named the person. Jestem on its own means "I am". It is one of 27 words in the set “pronouns” — the rest are in the table above.
How many pronouns do you need to start?
The whole set on this page is 27 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.