Talking About Money and Prices | Polish Grammar

Money talk in Polish is mostly a small set of fixed phrases, but two of them hide grammar that English gives you no warning about. Prices force the currency into different forms depending on the number (jeden złoty but pięć złotych), and "I can/can't afford it" is a subjectless, verbless-looking idiom — stać mnie na to — that has nothing to do with the verb stać meaning "to stand." Master those two points and the rest is vocabulary. This page is the phrase bank plus the grammar that makes the phrases come out right at the till.

"How much is it?" — Ile to kosztuje?

The default price question is Ile to kosztuje? ("how much does this cost?"). For plural items, Ile kosztują…?; in a shop or café the casual all-purpose version is Ile płacę? ("how much do I pay?").

Ile to kosztuje? — Dwadzieścia pięć złotych.

How much is it? — Twenty-five zloty.

Przepraszam, ile płacę? — Razem czterdzieści złotych.

Excuse me, how much do I owe? — Forty zloty altogether.

To say a price you pair a number with the currency: X złotych (Y groszy). Note that prices are usually quoted as just the złote figure in speech; the grosze (the small change) get added when needed.

The currency forms: złoty / złote / złotych and grosz / grosze / groszy

This is the rule that trips everyone, and it is the same after-numbers genitive that governs every counted noun — money is not special, it just shows up constantly.

Number	"złoty"	"grosz"	Example
1	złoty	grosz	jeden złoty, jeden grosz
2, 3, 4 (and 22–24, 32–34…)	złote	grosze	dwa złote, trzy grosze
5–21, and 25 onward	złotych	groszy	pięć złotych, pięćdziesiąt groszy

To będzie dwadzieścia trzy złote i pięćdziesiąt groszy.

That'll be twenty-three zloty fifty.

Bilet kosztuje cztery złote, a kawa dziewięć złotych.

A ticket costs four zloty, and a coffee nine zloty.

💡

The "5-and-up" forms złotych and groszy are by far the most common, because most prices and most grosz amounts land in that range. Only a bare 1 takes złoty / grosz, and only 2, 3, 4 (and compounds ending in them, except the teens 12–14) take złote / grosze. If you are unsure, złotych is the safe default. See numeral case government for the rule across all nouns.

Expensive and cheap: drogi / tani

drogi = "expensive," tani = "cheap." Both are adjectives and must agree with the noun. The comparatives are irregular: drogi → droższy ("more expensive"), tani → tańszy ("cheaper").

Ta kurtka jest za droga. Macie coś tańszego?

This jacket is too expensive. Do you have something cheaper?

Tu jest taniej niż w centrum.

It's cheaper here than in the centre.

Note za droga — za + adjective means "too (expensive)," a high-frequency complaint at the till.

Paying: kartą, gotówką, przelewem

Polish names the means of payment with the instrumental case (the "by means of" case), so "by card" is kartą, "in cash" is gotówką, "by transfer" is przelewem.

Means	Noun	"to pay by…"
card	karta	płacić kartą
cash	gotówka	płacić gotówką
(bank) transfer	przelew	płacić przelewem

Czy mogę zapłacić kartą? — Oczywiście.

Can I pay by card? — Of course.

Wolę płacić gotówką.

I prefer to pay in cash.

Zapłaciłem za czynsz przelewem.

I paid the rent by transfer.

Related vocabulary you'll meet constantly: rachunek ("the bill / the account"), na koncie ("in the [bank] account," locative), paragon ("the receipt"), bankomat ("ATM"), wypłacić / wpłacić ("withdraw / deposit").

Poproszę o rachunek.

The bill, please.

Nie mam teraz pieniędzy na koncie.

I don't have any money in my account right now.

"Change": reszta and "keep the change"

reszta is the change you get back. "Keep the change" is the fixed phrase Reszty nie trzeba ("the change isn't needed," with reszty in the genitive after the negated nie trzeba) or, more bluntly, Proszę zatrzymać resztę.

Płacę stówą. — Proszę, oto reszta.

I'm paying with a hundred. — Here you are, here's your change.

Reszty nie trzeba, dziękuję.

Keep the change, thanks.

(Stówa is (informal) for a 100-złoty note; the neutral word is sto złotych.)

"I can / can't afford it" — stać kogoś na coś

This is the construction the brief flags, and it is genuinely strange for English speakers, so look closely. To say someone can afford something, Polish uses stać (here a frozen, impersonal verb) with the person in the accusative and the thing in na + accusative:

stać + [accusative person] + na + [accusative thing]

There is no nominative subject. The verb is invariant — always third-person stać — and the experiencer is an accusative object: stać mnie ("I can afford"), stać cię ("you can afford"), stać nas ("we can afford"). This stać is unrelated to the everyday verb stać "to stand"; it is a fossilised impersonal of "to be worth / to be within one's means."

Nie stać mnie na nowy samochód.

I can't afford a new car.

Stać nas na wakacje w tym roku.

We can afford a holiday this year.

Czy stać cię na taki wydatek?

Can you afford an expense like that?

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Build Nie stać mnie na to as one frozen template: negation + stać + accusative-of-the-person + na + accusative-of-the-thing, with no "I." Do not conjugate stać and do not insert ja. Past tense uses the neuter singular: Nie było mnie stać na to ("I couldn't afford it"). For the full paradigm and the contrast with locomotion stać, see the verb stać.

A money exchange

— Dzień dobry, ile kosztuje ten plecak? — Sto dziewięćdziesiąt złotych.

— Hello, how much is this backpack? — A hundred and ninety zloty.

— Trochę drogo. A ten mniejszy? — Ten jest tańszy, sto dwadzieścia.

— A bit pricey. And the smaller one? — That one's cheaper, a hundred and twenty.

— Dobrze, biorę go. Mogę zapłacić kartą? — Tak, proszę. Oto paragon i reszta.

— OK, I'll take it. Can I pay by card? — Yes, please. Here's your receipt and change.

Notice the shopping math: Sto dziewięćdziesiąt minus a discount, the comparative tańszy, biorę go ("I'll take it," accusative pronoun), the instrumental kartą, and the closing paragon i reszta.

Common Mistakes

❌ To kosztuje pięć złoty.

Incorrect — currency left in the wrong form after 5.

✅ To kosztuje pięć złotych.

It costs five zloty.

After 5–21 (and 25 up), the currency takes the genitive plural złotych, not the bare złoty.

❌ Nie mogę pozwolić sobie nowy samochód.

Incorrect — calquing English 'afford' with the wrong frame.

✅ Nie stać mnie na nowy samochód.

I can't afford a new car.

The idiomatic affordability frame is stać + accusative person + na + accusative thing, with no subject — not a literal "I can allow myself."

❌ Stać ja na wakacje.

Incorrect — used the nominative ja as if it were the subject.

✅ Stać mnie na wakacje.

I can afford a holiday.

The experiencer is an accusative object (mnie, cię, nas), because stać here is impersonal and takes no nominative subject.

❌ Czy mogę zapłacić karta?

Incorrect — means of payment left in the nominative.

✅ Czy mogę zapłacić kartą?

Can I pay by card?

The means of payment goes in the instrumental — kartą, gotówką, przelewem.

❌ Reszta nie trzeba.

Incorrect — subject left nominative under nie trzeba.

✅ Reszty nie trzeba.

Keep the change. (lit. The change isn't needed.)

Nie trzeba ("there's no need of") governs the genitive, so reszta → reszty.

Key Takeaways

Prices follow the after-numbers rule: jeden złoty, dwa/trzy/cztery złote, pięć+ złotych (and the same shape for grosz / grosze / groszy).
Name the means of payment with the instrumental: kartą, gotówką, przelewem.
"Afford" is the impersonal idiom stać kogoś na coś — accusative experiencer, na
- accusative thing, no nominative subject, verb frozen.
drogi / tani are agreeing adjectives; za drogi = "too expensive"; comparatives droższy / tańszy.
"Keep the change" is Reszty nie trzeba (genitive reszty) or Proszę zatrzymać resztę.

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