The learning path
All 87 grammar topics in the order in which they support one another — numbered from 1 to 87.
Your progress at a glance
Each petal is a category: easy topics on the inside, hard ones on the outside. Tap a petal to see only its topics.
Where are you right now?
- A1Introducing yourself, asking questions, saying everyday things.
- Words first · 10Words first · 10The Polish alphabetThirty-two letters, nine of them with marks — and each one always sounds the same.
- Words first · 9Words first · 8Hissing sounds: sz, cz, rz, ż and ś, ć, źEnglish has one “sh”; Polish has two — a hard one and a soft one.
- Words first · 9Soft sounds: ni, si, ci and ń, ś, ćA soft sound is written with an accent or with an i — the next letter decides which.
- Words first · 10Words first · 10The nasal vowels ą and ęTwo vowels said through the nose — which turn into “om” or “en” before some sounds.
- Words first · 10Stress on the second-to-last syllableAlmost every word is stressed on the second-to-last syllable — and the stress moves when the word grows.
- Words first · 7Words first · 6Voiced and voiceless: chleb sounds like “chlep”At the end of a word a voiced consonant is said voiceless — something English never does.
- Words first · 6Words first · 5Free word order, fixed endingsSubject, verb, object as the neutral order — but the endings, not the position, say who does what.
- Words first · 7Words first · 7Words first · 7Three present-tense patterns: czytam, robię, piszęThe first two forms — “I” and “you” — show which pattern a verb follows.
- Words first · 10The seven cases at a glancePolish shows the case at the end of the noun — seven cases, and no article.
- Words first · 5Personal pronouns: ja, ty, on, ona, onoUsually left out, because the verb ending already says who — and in the plural it matters whether a man is in the group.
- Words first · 7Words first · 6Telling the three genders from the endingConsonant, -a or -o: the end of the word usually shows its gender.
- Words first · 1być: jestem, jesteś, jestThe verb “to be” in the present — and why a job after it takes a different ending.
- Words first · 9Words first · 9Words first · 7Numbers from nought to a thousand: jeden, dwa, pięćThe numbers up to a thousand, why there are jeden, jedna and jedno, and dwa beside dwie.
- Words first · 6Words first · 6w, na and do: where and where toWhere? takes w or na with the locative; where to? takes do with the genitive, or na with the accusative.
- Words first · 7Words first · 7The a-conjugation: czytam, czytaszThe easiest pattern: -am, -asz, -a, -amy, -acie, -ają go onto the stem.
- Words first · 3The accusative: kawę, brata, domOnly feminine words and living masculine ones change — everything else stays as it is.
- Words first · 5Polite address: pan, pani, państwoThe polite Polish “you” is a noun — sir, madam, ladies and gentlemen — with the verb in the third person.
- Words first · 3To jest: “This is …”With to jest you point at something and name it — and the noun after it stays as it is.
- Words first · 6Words first · 5The i-conjugation: robię, robisz-ę for “I”, -isz or -ysz for “you” — and often a different sound before the -ę.
- Words first · 8Words first · 7musieć and móc: must, can, maymuszę, mogę and an infinitive — and why “nie musisz” does not mean “you mustn’t”.
- Words first · 4No article: dom means “a house” and “the house”No “a”, no “the” — word order shows what is known and what is new.
- Words first · 5The instrumental: z mamą, jestem lekarzemWith whom, with what, as what — one case for three English ideas.
- Words first · 10The adjective agrees: nowy, nowa, noweAn adjective takes the gender and number of its noun — before the noun and after “to be”.
- Words first · 9And, but, or: i, a, ale, alboi joins, a contrasts, ale contradicts — and a and ale have a comma before them.
- Yes-no questions with czyOne word at the front turns a statement into a question — no do, no inversion.
- Words first · 5Possessives: mój, twój, jego, jejmój, moja, moje agree with the thing owned; jego, jej, ich never change.
- Words first · 5The e-conjugation: piszę, piszesz, pracuję-ę for “I”, -esz for “you” — and with -ować → -uję the biggest group of all.
- Words first · 3The locative: w domu, w Krakowie, o mamieThe case for “where?” and “about what?” — always after a preposition, and often with a changed stem.
- Words first · 3Question words: kto, co, gdzie, kiedyThe question word goes first; the rest stays as in the statement.
- Words first · 8Words first · 7The time: o ósmej, wpół do dziewiątejFor the time Polish uses ordinals: Jest ósma means “it is eight”, o ósmej “at eight”.
- Words first · 2do, z, od, u, bez: prepositions with the genitiveThe commonest small prepositions always take the genitive — and z has two meanings.
- Words first · 3The plural: domy, książki, klucze, oknaFour endings, and the last sound of the word tells you which.
- Words first · 7Demonstratives: ten, ta, toten, ta, to point at something and agree with the noun like an adjective.
- Words first · 4Irregular: mam, chcę, jem, wiem, mogęFive verbs you need every day and learn one by one: have, want, eat, know, can.
- Words first · 2The genitive: dom Piotra, szklanka wodyWhose, how much, from where, to where: in Polish one of the most common cases of all.
- Words first · 2Negation with nie and nie maOne word for “not” and “no”, always before the verb — and happy to appear twice.
- A2Talking about what happened and saying what comes next.
- Same sound, different spelling: u/ó, rz/ż, h/chThree pairs of spellings sound alike — a related form tells you which to write.
- The genitive after negation: nie mam czasuWhat you negate with nie moves from the accusative to the genitive.
- Words first · 3Forming the past: czytałem, czytałamThe infinitive without -ć, then -ł- and an ending for person and gender.
- Words first · 7Process or result: robić and zrobićThe imperfective tells the process, the perfective the result — and both live inside the verb.
- Words first · 6The imperative: czytaj, pisz, róbThe form for “he” gives the form for “you” — plus -my for “let’s” and -cie for several people.
- Words first · 3Pronouns in every case: mnie, mi, go, niegoShort forms without stress, long ones for emphasis, and after a preposition the forms with n.
- Words first · 8Adjectives in the cases: w nowym domu, z dobrą kawąFew endings for many cases: -ego, -emu, -ym for masculine and neuter, -ej and -ą for feminine.
- Words first · 6Reasons and results: bo, ponieważ, więc, dlategobo and ponieważ give the reason, więc and dlatego the result.
- Words first · 7Words first · 7Words first · 7The date: siedemnastego październikaThe day is a masculine ordinal, the month is in the genitive — and “on the 17th” is simply siedemnastego.
- Words first · 8Trzeba, można, warto, wolno: one must, one canFour words with no person and no ending — they say what is necessary, possible, worth it or allowed.
- Words first · 7Going now or again and again: iść and chodzićPolish has two verbs for going on foot: iść for one trip in one direction, chodzić for repetition and to and fro.
- Words first · 5Men in the plural: studenci, panowie, PolacyAs soon as a man is in the group, the plural takes a form of its own — with a sound change.
- Words first · 2The dative: bratu, mamie, dzieckuTo whom? — the receiver, and hardly ever after a preposition.
- Words first · 3Byli or były: the plural in the pastIf a man is in the group, it is byli — otherwise były, for children, animals and things as well.
- Words first · 1The future with będę: będę czytać, będę czytałbędę is “I will be”: on its own for “to be”, with an imperfective verb for everything else.
- Time phrases: w poniedziałek, za tydzień, dwa dni temuDay, month, time of day, duration and distance in time — each has its preposition and its case.
- Words first · 7How aspect pairs are built: pisać – napisaćWith a prefix, with another stem, or as a different word altogether — three routes to the partner.
- Words first · 5Asking politely: proszę usiąść, niech pan wejdziePeople you address formally are asked with proszę and the infinitive, or with niech and the third person.
- Words first · 5swój: one’s ownWhen something belongs to the subject itself, it is swój — for every person.
- Words first · 4Comparison: nowszy, najnowszy, lepszy-szy or -iejszy for “-er”, naj- in front for “-est” — and a few irregular forms.
- Words first · 4That and whether: że, czy and question words in clausesże is “that”, czy is “whether” — both have a comma before them, and że is never dropped.
- Words first · 3The vocative: Piotrze! Aniu! Panie doktorze!The person you speak to is called in a form of their own.
- Words first · 10The case after the number: dwa koty, pięć kotówAfter two, three and four the nominative plural, from five the genitive plural — and the verb is then singular.
- Words first · 4Lubię or podoba mi się: like and be pleased bylubić for what you like; podobać się for what appeals to you — with the person in the dative.
- Words first · 4Travelling now or regularly: jechać and jeździćBy bus, car, train or bike you need jechać for one trip and jeździć for habit and ability.
- Words first · 2Animate or inanimate: mam brata, mam domA masculine noun that is alive takes an ending as an object — one that is not alive stays as it is.
- Words first · 8Czytałam or przeczytałam: aspect in the pastThe imperfective tells what you were busy with, the perfective what came of it.
- Words first · 5Two futures: będę robić and zrobięImperfective with będę, perfective without — and never both together.
- Words first · 4The conditional: chciałbym, mogłabyśPast-tense form plus by — for wishes, polite requests and everything that is only imagined.
- The reflexive pronoun sięOne word for myself, yourself, himself, ourselves and themselves — and many more verbs with it than in English.
- Words first · 8Adverbs: dobrze, szybko, ładnieHow something happens is said not by the adjective but by a form in -o or -e — the Polish “-ly”.
- Words first · 4When and if: kiedy, gdy, jeśli, jeżelikiedy and gdy say when something happens, jeśli and jeżeli on what condition — just like English “when” and “if”.
- Words first · 2The cases in the plural: -om, -ami, -achThree endings work for every gender — the plural is easier than the singular.
- B1Explaining how things connect, giving reasons, reporting.
- Words first · 5What somebody said: reported speech with że, czy, żebyPolish does not shift the tense back in reported speech: the tense of the original stays, only persons and pronouns change.
- Words first · 9Numbers for groups of men: dwaj, dwóch, pięciuGroups with men have number forms of their own: dwaj koledzy or dwóch kolegów, pięciu studentów.
- Words first · 5Gdyby: conditions that are not realGdyby with the ending, the verb in its -ł form — and the conditional in the main clause.
- Words first · 6Words first · 6Prefixes on iść and jechać: arrive, leaveA prefix gives the trip a direction — przyjść, wyjść, wejść — and makes the verb perfective.
- Words first · 2The genitive plural: pięć kotów, dużo książekThe form with the most endings — and one of them is no ending at all.
- Words first · 10Diminutives: domek, kawka, okienkoWith -ek, -ka and -ko you make things small, dear or polite — far more often than English does with “-ie”.
- Gdzieś był? The movable personal endingThe ending -em, -eś, -śmy, -ście can move from the verb to a word further forward.
- Words first · 7nad, pod, przed, za, między: place or directionWhere something is takes the instrumental, where it is going takes the accusative.
- Words first · 5Choosing the aspect: signals in the sentenceWords like “codziennie” and “w końcu”, commands, negation and questions show which aspect fits.
- Words first · 1Powinien: what you should doA word that looks like an adjective, changes like the past tense and means “should”.
- Words first · 3Relative clauses with któryktóry takes its gender from the noun it refers to and its case from its role in the clause.
- Words first · 6Words first · 6Participles and the passive: czytający, czytając, napisanyThree participles: -ący like an adjective, -ąc for “while”, -ny and -ty for the passive with być and zostać.
- Words first · 7Collective numbers: dwoje dzieci, obojedwoje, troje and czworo count children, couples of a man and a woman, and words that exist only in the plural.
- Words first · 3Żeby: wishes, requests and aimsAfter “want somebody to” and for “so that” you use żeby with the -ł form — or, for the same person, the infinitive.
- Words first · 2Three verbs for one trip: iść, chodzić, pójśćpójść and pojechać are the perfective partners: somebody who poszedł has gone and is not back yet.
- Words first · 6Words first · 5Which case after which verbMany verbs require a fixed case — and some common ones take a case you would not expect from English.
- Words first · 3Small words, big effect: już, jeszcze, chyba, przecieżjuż and jeszcze, chyba and przecież, dopiero and tylko — small words that show what you expect or suppose.
- Words first · 8A noun from a verb: czytanie, pisanie, jedzenieWith -anie, -enie or -cie you turn a verb into a noun — the Polish “-ing” in “reading is fun”.
The finish: the whole grammar
87 topics, from the first sentences to the finishing touches.
How to read the path. Every dot is a grammar topic; a click opens it. The colour of a dot is its category, the colour of the path is the difficulty — green and easy at the top, berry red and hard at the bottom. Within a level the categories follow one another, but you need not take them in order: you can work on a tense and on a topic from another category side by side.
On every topic page you can note how well it has sunk in — understood or not sure yet. The path shows it here and highlights the next open topic.
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