A first conversation between two people the same age — at a party, a hostel, a language exchange — is one of the most useful texts to study, because it packs the core grammar of self-description into a few friendly lines. In this dialogue Marta and Tomek meet, ask where each is from, what each does, and what each likes, then arrange to meet again. We present the whole exchange first, then walk through it line by line, flagging the case government and verb patterns that make each line work. Throughout, the two use the informal ty — peers of similar age switch to first names and ty almost at once. (For when ty is appropriate versus the formal pan/pani, see formality: ty vs pan.)
The dialogue
— Cześć! Mam na imię Marta. A ty? — Cześć, jestem Tomek. Miło mi. — Skąd jesteś? — Jestem z Krakowa, ale mieszkam teraz w Warszawie. A ty? — Ja jestem z Anglii, z Manchesteru. Uczę się polskiego od roku. — Naprawdę? Świetnie mówisz! Czym się zajmujesz? — Pracuję jako grafik. A ty? — Studiuję informatykę. Co lubisz robić w wolnym czasie? — Interesuję się fotografią i lubię chodzić po górach. — Ja też! Może spotkamy się w sobotę i pójdziemy na jakąś wystawę? — Jasne, chętnie. Dasz mi swój numer? — Pewnie. Zapiszę ci go teraz.
Line-by-line annotations
Names and the opening formula
Mam na imię Marta. A ty?
My name is Marta. And you?
The idiom for giving your name is mam na imię… — literally "I have for a name…". Mam is pro-dropped-friendly: the -m ending already says "I," so no ja is needed (it would only add contrast). The tag A ty? ("And you?") tosses the same question back without repeating it — a workhorse of small talk.
Jestem Tomek. Miło mi.
I'm Tomek. Nice to meet you.
Jestem Tomek uses the nominative for a bare self-identification by name. Miło mi ("[it is] nice to me") is a frozen greeting with a dative mi — you do not analyze it, you just say it on meeting someone. See more openers at greetings and introductions.
Origin: skąd and z + genitive
Skąd jesteś? — Jestem z Krakowa.
Where are you from? — I'm from Kraków.
This is the grammatical heart of the dialogue. The question word skąd ("from where") is answered with the preposition z ("from") plus the genitive case. Kraków → z Krakowa: note the fleeting vowel dropping (Kraków loses its final-syllable vowel pattern to give the stem Krakow-) and the masculine genitive ending -a. The same frame handles countries and cities alike.
Ja jestem z Anglii, z Manchesteru.
I'm from England, from Manchester.
Anglia → z Anglii (feminine genitive in -i, here written -ii because the stem ends in -i); Manchester → z Manchesteru (a masculine inanimate often takes genitive -u). The explicit Ja here is doing real work: it contrasts Marta's origin with Tomek's, answering his A ty?. For the full range of this preposition see z: from vs with and genitive after prepositions.
Saying how long: od + genitive
Uczę się polskiego od roku.
I've been learning Polish for a year.
Two things to catch. First, uczyć się ("to learn/study") governs the genitive of what you study: polskiego (the language name in the genitive). Second, od roku ("for a year," literally "since a year") again uses od + genitive — rok → roku — and the Polish present tense covers what English makes a present perfect: uczę się… od roku = "I have been learning… for a year." There is no separate continuous tense (see no continuous tense).
Work: czym się zajmujesz and jako
Czym się zajmujesz? — Pracuję jako grafik.
What do you do (for a living)? — I work as a graphic designer.
Zajmować się ("to occupy oneself with, to do") governs the instrumental case — and the question word reflects it: czym is the instrumental of co ("what"). So Czym się zajmujesz? literally asks "With what do you occupy yourself?" The natural answer uses pracować jako… ("to work as…"), where jako is followed by the nominative (grafik), because jako introduces a role, not a case-governed object.
Studiuję informatykę.
I'm studying computer science.
Studiować takes a plain accusative object: informatyka → informatykę (feminine accusative -ę). Contrast it with uczyć się above, which took the genitive — two verbs for "study," two different cases.
Interests: interesować się + instrumental and lubić + infinitive
Co lubisz robić w wolnym czasie?
What do you like doing in your free time?
Lubić ("to like") is followed by an infinitive for activities: lubisz robić ("you like to do"). The frame w wolnym czasie ("in [one's] free time") shows the locative after w (wolny czas → w wolnym czasie).
Interesuję się fotografią i lubię chodzić po górach.
I'm interested in photography and I like hiking in the mountains.
The verb interesować się ("to be interested in") governs the instrumental: fotografia → fotografią (feminine instrumental -ą). This pairs naturally with czym się zajmujesz above — both verbs assign the instrumental, so the whole interests-and-occupation topic lives in one case. (See interesować się.) Then lubię chodzić repeats the lubić + infinitive frame, and po górach ("around/in the mountains") shows po + locative plural for habitual wandering.
Pro-drop in the exchange
Look back at the answers: Pracuję… Studiuję… Interesuję się… Uczę się…. Not one needs a subject pronoun, because the verb ending names the person. Polish only inserts ja / ty for contrast or emphasis — exactly what Marta does with Ja jestem z Anglii (contrasting with Tomek) and Ja też! ("Me too!", where the pronoun is the whole point). Routine sentences stay pronoun-free; overusing ja sounds non-native (see pronoun overuse).
Making plans: the future tense
Może spotkamy się w sobotę i pójdziemy na jakąś wystawę?
Maybe we'll meet on Saturday and go to some exhibition?
Plans use the future. Spotkamy się and pójdziemy are perfective verbs whose present-looking forms carry future meaning — the simple perfective future (see perfective future). Może…? ("maybe…?") softens the proposal into an invitation. W sobotę ("on Saturday") uses w + accusative for a day, and na… wystawę ("to an exhibition") uses na + accusative for the destination of an outing.
Dasz mi swój numer? — Zapiszę ci go teraz.
Will you give me your number? — I'll write it down for you now.
Dasz (perfective future of dać) again reads as future. The reflexive-possessive swój ("one's own") refers back to the subject — swój numer = the number belonging to the giver — where English just says "your." In the reply, go (accusative of on) stands in for numer, and ci is the short dative of ty ("for you"). For the longer-range "I will be doing" future, see the imperfective compound future.
Cultural note: przejść na ty
Marta and Tomek use ty from the first line, which is normal between young peers in a casual setting. With strangers who are older, or in formal contexts, you would start with pan/pani and only later przejść na ty ("switch to ty") — often proposed explicitly: Może przejdziemy na ty? Getting this transition right is a real social skill; the dialogue above simply assumes the easy, same-age case.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jestem od Krakowa.
Incorrect — origin uses z, not od, for a place you come from.
✅ Jestem z Krakowa.
I'm from Kraków.
English "from" maps to z for origin from a place; od is "from" a person or a starting point in time/space, not your hometown.
❌ Interesuję się fotografię.
Incorrect — interesować się takes the instrumental, not the accusative.
✅ Interesuję się fotografią.
I'm interested in photography.
A very common transfer error: English "interested in [object]" tempts learners toward the accusative, but the verb demands the instrumental fotografią.
❌ Lubię chodzenie po górach... lubię chodzę.
Incorrect — after lubić, use the infinitive, not a finite verb.
✅ Lubię chodzić po górach.
I like hiking in the mountains.
Lubić + activity takes the bare infinitive (chodzić), never a conjugated verb (chodzę).
❌ Ja pracuję, ja studiuję, ja interesuję się...
Incorrect-sounding — the subject pronoun is overused.
✅ Pracuję, studiuję, interesuję się fotografią.
I work, I study, I'm interested in photography.
Drop ja unless you are contrasting or emphasizing; the verb endings already say "I," and stacking ja sounds unnatural.
❌ Daj mi twój numer.
Incorrect for one's own item — use the reflexive-possessive swój.
✅ Dasz mi swój numer?
Will you give me your number?
When the possessor is the subject of the clause, Polish uses swój, not twój/jego. See swój vs jego.
Now practice Polish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Polish→Related Topics
- Greetings and IntroductionsA1 — How to greet and introduce yourself in Polish — dzień dobry / cześć and the strict register split, the two introduction constructions (nazywam się + surname vs mam na imię + first name), Jak się masz? / Jak się pan(i) ma?, and Miło mi as the fixed 'pleased to meet you'.
- z/ze: From and WithA2 — One preposition, two meanings, two cases — z + genitive means 'from / out of', z + instrumental means 'with [together]', and the case you choose is the only thing that tells them apart.
- interesować się — to be interested inB1 — Full conjugation of interesować się / zainteresować się, an -ować verb (interesuję się) whose object of interest goes in the instrumental — joining the small set of instrumental-governing reflexive verbs.
- The Compound Future (Imperfective)A2 — The imperfective future = będę + either the infinitive or a gender-agreeing -ł participle: będę czytać = będę czytał/czytała, for ongoing or repeated future actions — and only ever with imperfective verbs.
- Genitive After Prepositions (do, od, z, bez, dla, u)A2 — The large set of prepositions that govern the Polish genitive — do, od, z, bez, dla, u and more — with the do-vs-na 'to' trap.
- Formality: ty versus pan/paniA1 — The core Polish politeness system — informal ty with a 2nd-person verb versus formal pan/pani/państwo with a THIRD-person verb — and when to switch.