Polish language

Polish () is the official language of Poland. It is the most common Western Slavic language and the second Slavic language, after Russian.
Polish has been an important language in Central and Eastern Europe. Polish is now spoken by over 43.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a Second language in western parts of Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine. Because of emigration during different times, millions of Polish-speakers can be found in Australia, Ireland, Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom, United States and elsewhere. There are over 50 million speakers around the world.
Letters
There are 9 letters in Polish that English does not have. They look like English letters with marks above or below them.
In lower case, the 9 letters are: a c e l n s o z z
In upper case, the 9 letters are: A C E L N S O Z Z
There are 3 English letters not used in Polish: q, v, x.
There are 7 combinations of 2 letters that are like a single letter sound (similar to "th" or "qu" in English). These include "ch", "cz", "dz", "dz", "dz", "rz", "sz".
Sounds
Many letters have the same sound in Polish and English, such as "f" "m", and others, but other letters sound different: Polish "w" sounds like an English "v", and Polish "l" sounds like an English "w". There are also some Polish sounds that do not exist in English and some English sounds that do not exist in Polish.
The vowels "a" and "e" are nasal and so they are pronounced by blowing air partly out of both the nose and the mouth.
Most words are pronounced with an accent on the second-last syllable: "student" (which means the same as the English word) is pronounced with the accent on "stu" ("STU-dent"), and "studenci" (the plural form of "student") is pronounced with the accent on "den" (stu-DEN-ci).
Dialects
The Polish language has several dialects but they are more similar to one another than most other European languages. There are small differences, but all speakers can understand one another, and non-native speakers often cannot notice the differences.
Grammar
Grammar is complex, and has features that are unlike English.
Like many other languages, Polish has grammatical gender. A table (stol) is masculine, a book (ksiazka) is feminine, and a window (okno) is neuter.
Nouns and adjectives and verbs have many endings, depending on their role in a sentence. There are 7 cases that show the role of a noun in a Polish sentence. Each has its own ending, which also depends on the gender of the noun.
Word order is freer than in English, partly because the case and gender endings help to understand the role of the noun. In English, "The boy bites the dog" is quite different from "The dog bites the boy", but in Polish, both orders can be used without confusion.
Sample Phrases
Dzien dobry (Dz'yehn DOH-brih) - Good morning or Good afternoon
Dobry wieczor (DOH-brih v-YETCH-oor) - Good evening'
Do widzenia (doh vee-DZEN-yah) - Good byeCzesc! (tsheshch) - Hi, Hello! or ByeTak (tahk) - Yes (in Polish, long-short answers like Yes, I did are not needed, and Tak is enough)
Nie (nyeh) - No or Not (in Polish, long-short answers like No, I won't are not needed, and Nie is enough)
Jak sie masz? (yahk shyeh mahsh) - How do you do?Co robisz? (tsoh robish) - What you doing?Jak sie nazywasz? (YAHK shyeh nahZYvash) or Jak masz na imie? (YAHK mahsh nah EE-myeng/EE-myeh) - What's your name?Nazywam sie... (nah-ZIH-vahm shyeh) - My (name and) surname is...Mam na imie... (mahm nah EE-myeng/EE-myeh) - My (given) name is...Nie mowie po Polsku (nyeh MOW-vyeng/MOW-vyeh poh POL-skoo) - I do not speak PolishLubie Cie (loo-bee-EH chyeh) - I like youKocham Cie (koh-hahm chyeh) - I love youNie mowie po Angielsku (nyeh MOW-vyeng/MOW-vyeh poh ahng-YEL-skoo) - I do not speak EnglishJak dojechac na lotnisko/dworzec (yak do-YEH-khatch nah lot-NEE-sco/dvo-ZHETS) - How do you get the airport/rail station?(where dworzec - station means rail station'' by default)
Jeden (ye-den) -One
Dwa (dva) -Two
Trzy (Trzhi) -Three
References
Other websites
Wikibooks:Basic Polish language course
Slavic languages
Languages of Europe