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Polish for care work

Care at home, in a care home and in hospital: Polish for the morning, the medication, the call to the family and the emergency.

33 sentences · 2 dialogues · 15 words

Why this field

In Britain and Ireland many carers, nurses and care assistants speak Polish at home, and in Poland itself many older people speak nothing else. Whether you care for someone, work beside a Polish colleague or have a relative looked after by one, a few Polish sentences build trust faster than anything else.

The situations repeat themselves: waking up, washing, meals, tablets, a walk, a call to the doctor. Twenty sentences said with confidence carry you through most of a day.

What you will be able to do

Goals by level. Tick what you can already do — the tick stays in this browser only.

Core vocabulary

15 words from the word lists, ordered by level. A coloured edge shows what you have already practised.

  • lekarstwomedicineA1
  • tabletkatablet, pillA1
  • bólpainA1
  • bolećto hurt, to acheA1
  • lekarzdoctorA1
  • choryill, sickA1
  • ręczniktowelA2
  • mydłosoapA2
  • pielęgniarkanurseA2
  • spacerwalk, strollA2
  • opiekować sięto look after, to take care ofB1
  • ciśnienieblood pressure; pressureB1
  • dawkadoseB1
  • karetkaambulanceB1
  • receptaprescriptionB1

Typical situations

Short dialogues to read along and repeat. Say one part first, then the other.

In the morning

A2

You look after Mrs Halina and help her get up.

  1. Carer

    Dzień dobry, pani Halino! Jak pani spała?Good morning, Mrs Halina! How did you sleep?

  2. Mrs Halina

    Tak sobie. W nocy bolały mnie plecy.So-so. My back hurt in the night.

  3. Carer

    Przykro mi. Pomogę pani wstać.I’m sorry. I’ll help you get up.

  4. Mrs Halina

    Dziękuję. Najpierw chcę wziąć prysznic.Thank you. First I want to have a shower.

  5. Carer

    Dobrze. Ręcznik i mydło są już w łazience.All right. The towel and the soap are already in the bathroom.

  6. Mrs Halina

    A co jest dzisiaj na śniadanie?And what’s for breakfast today?

  7. Carer

    Bułki z masłem, jajko i herbata. Potem tabletki.Rolls and butter, an egg and tea. Then the tablets.

  8. Mrs Halina

    Pani o wszystkim pamięta!You think of everything!

A call from the daughter

B1

Mrs Halina’s daughter rings and asks how her mother is.

  1. Daughter

    Dzień dobry, pani Ewo. Jak się czuje mama?Hello, Ewa. How is Mum?

  2. Carer

    Dzień dobry. Dzisiaj lepiej, ale wczoraj wieczorem miała wysokie ciśnienie.Hello. Better today, but yesterday evening her blood pressure was high.

  3. Daughter

    Czy dzwoniła pani do lekarza?Did you ring the doctor?

  4. Carer

    Tak. Lekarz zmienił dawkę i powiedział, żeby mama więcej odpoczywała.Yes. The doctor changed the dose and said Mum should rest more.

  5. Daughter

    Dobrze, że pani tak o nią dba. Czy czegoś pani potrzebuje?It’s good that you take such care of her. Do you need anything?

  6. Carer

    Potrzebuję nowej recepty. Czy mogłaby pani zadzwonić do przychodni?I need a new prescription. Could you ring the surgery?

  7. Daughter

    Oczywiście, zadzwonię jeszcze dzisiaj.Of course, I’ll ring them today.

Sentences to say aloud

The label says where a sentence belongs. The speaker next to it reads it aloud.

  1. Dzień dobry, jak się pani czuje?Good morning, how are you feeling?

    A1polite To a woman pani, to a man pan — and the verb stays in the third person, as if you said “how is the lady feeling?”.

  2. Co panią boli?Where does it hurt?

    A1polite With boleć the person is in the accusative: panią, for a man pana. Literally “what hurts you?”.

  3. Boli mnie głowa.I have a headache.

    A1neutral

  4. Proszę, tu jest woda.Here you are, here’s some water.

    A1neutral

  5. Czy jest pani zimno?Are you cold?

    A1polite The person who is cold is in the dative: pani, panu, mi — “is it cold to you?”. Not jest pani zimna, which would describe her character.

  6. To jest pani lekarstwo.This is your medicine.

    A1polite “Your” is simply pani (or pana) in front of the noun.

  7. Jedna tabletka rano, jedna wieczorem.One tablet in the morning, one in the evening.

    A1neutral

  8. Lekarz przychodzi o drugiej.The doctor is coming at two.

    A1neutral

  9. Jest pan dzisiaj zmęczony?Are you tired today?

    A1polite

  10. Pomagam pani.I’m helping you.

    A1polite pomagać takes the dative: pani, panu — English “help” has a plain object, Polish does not.

  11. Muszę zadzwonić do lekarza.I have to ring the doctor.

    A1neutral “Ring someone” is literally “ring to someone”: dzwonić do with the genitive.

  12. Pomogę pani się umyć.I’ll help you wash.

    A2polite A perfective verb in the present form means the future: pomogę “I will help”, i.e. right now.

  13. Tu jest ręcznik i mydło.Here are the towel and the soap.

    A2neutral

  14. Chce pani wziąć prysznic?Would you like to have a shower?

    A2polite

  15. Czy spała pani dobrze?Did you sleep well?

    A2polite

  16. Po śniadaniu pójdziemy na krótki spacer.After breakfast we’ll go for a short walk.

    A2neutral

  17. Proszę usiąść, zaraz przyniosę obiad.Please sit down, I’ll bring lunch in a moment.

    A2polite

  18. Czy wzięła pani już tabletki?Have you taken your tablets yet?

    A2polite

  19. Pielęgniarka przyjdzie jutro rano.The nurse is coming tomorrow morning.

    A2neutral

  20. Mama dobrze spała i zjadła całe śniadanie.Mum slept well and ate all her breakfast.

    A2neutral

  21. Proszę mi powiedzieć, jeśli coś boli.Please tell me if anything hurts.

    A2polite

  22. Założymy teraz ciepły sweter.Now let’s put on a warm jumper.

    A2close friends only The “we” is meant kindly in care, not patronisingly — it means “let’s do this together”, as in English.

  23. Od wczoraj mama ma wysokie ciśnienie.Mum has had high blood pressure since yesterday.

    B1neutral

  24. Lekarz przepisał nowe lekarstwo i zmienił dawkę.The doctor prescribed a new medicine and changed the dose.

    B1neutral

  25. Czy mogłaby pani przynieść receptę z przychodni?Could you pick up the prescription from the surgery?

    B1polite

  26. Proszę szybko wezwać karetkę, pani Halina jest nieprzytomna!Please call an ambulance quickly, Mrs Halina is unconscious!

    B1neutral

  27. Opiekuję się panią Haliną od dwóch lat.I have been looking after Mrs Halina for two years.

    B1neutral opiekować się takes the instrumental: panią Haliną. And where English says “have been … for”, Polish uses the present with od.

  28. Ostatnio pani Halina często zapomina, czy wzięła lekarstwa.Lately Mrs Halina often forgets whether she has taken her medicine.

    B1neutral

  29. Pilnuję, żeby pani Halina piła dużo wody.I make sure Mrs Halina drinks plenty of water.

    B1neutral After pilnować, żeby comes the past-tense form: żeby piła, although the meaning is present.

  30. Gdyby ból był silniejszy, proszę od razu dzwonić na pogotowie.If the pain gets worse, please ring the emergency services at once.

    B1polite

  31. Kiedy pani Halina źle się czuje w nocy, nie śpię i sprawdzam, czy wszystko jest w porządku.When Mrs Halina feels unwell at night, I stay awake and check that everything is all right.

    B1neutral

  32. Rodzina chce, żeby mama została w domu, a nie w szpitalu.The family wants Mum to stay at home, not in hospital.

    B1neutral

  33. Numer alarmowy w Polsce i w Niemczech to sto dwanaście.The emergency number in Poland and in Germany is 112.

    B1neutral

What matters here

  • Older people are addressed with pan or pani and the verb in the third person — “how does the lady feel?”:

    Jak się pani czuje? With a first name it is the vocative: pani Halino, panie Janie.

    panpaniJak się pani czuje?pani Halinopanie Janie

  • Pain works the other way round from English:

    what hurts is the subject, and the person is in the accusative — Boli mnie głowa., literally “the head hurts me”; Co panią boli?

    Boli mnie głowa.Co panią boli?

  • For medicine, the parts of the day are enough: rano, po obiedzie, wieczorem.

    Whether and how a medicine is taken is always for the doctor to decide — these sentences are language, not instructions.

    ranopo obiedziewieczorem

  • The emergency number sto dwanaście (112) works in Poland and across the EU; in the UK it reaches the same service as 999.

    sto dwanaście

Quick quiz

6 questions on the words and sentences of this field. The word questions count in your progress like any other exercise.

Try it yourself

Read the meaning, say the sentence aloud in Polish, then open it to compare.

  1. Good morning, how are you feeling?

    Dzień dobry, jak się pani czuje?

  2. Are you tired today?

    Jest pan dzisiaj zmęczony?

  3. Please sit down, I’ll bring lunch in a moment.

    Proszę usiąść, zaraz przyniosę obiad.

  4. Could you pick up the prescription from the surgery?

    Czy mogłaby pani przynieść receptę z przychodni?

Keep learning

More fields

Every sentence on this page was written for EveryLingua. There are no quotations from films, series, books or songs here, and no titles or names of artists — the page shows how people talk in this field, not what somebody once said.