This page is your phrase bank for the Polish year: how to say in winter and in summer, the names of the big holidays, and the fixed wishes Poles exchange on each occasion. Two small grammar patterns run through everything here — seasons sit in the instrumental (zimą "in winter"), while the holiday wishes are frozen genitives (Wesołych Świąt! "Merry Christmas!"). Learn the patterns once and the whole calendar opens up.
The four seasons — and "in [season]"
The seasons themselves are plain nouns:
| Season | Noun (nominative) | "In [season]" (instrumental) |
|---|---|---|
| spring | wiosna | wiosną |
| summer | lato | latem |
| autumn | jesień | jesienią |
| winter | zima | zimą |
Here is the key insight English speakers miss: to say in summer, Polish does not use a preposition. There is no word for in here. You simply put the season into the instrumental case, and that bare form means "during that season." English needs a preposition (in winter); Polish lets the case ending carry the whole meaning.
Zimą bardzo wcześnie robi się ciemno.
In winter it gets dark very early.
Latem jeździmy nad morze, a zimą w góry.
In summer we go to the seaside, and in winter to the mountains.
Wiosną wszystko zaczyna kwitnąć — uwielbiam ten zapach.
In spring everything starts to bloom — I love that smell.
Jesienią szybko się ściemnia i robi się chłodno.
In autumn it gets dark fast and turns chilly.
wiosną, latem, jesienią, zimą) are bare instrumentals with no preposition. Compare the parallel time pattern: wieczorem "in the evening," rankiem "in the morning" — same logic. See the instrumental of time.If you want to point to this particular season rather than the season in general, Polish has other tools: na wiosnę "come spring / in the spring" (na + accusative, future-leaning), or the genitive of time tej zimy "this winter." But for the everyday "I do X in summer," the bare instrumental is what natives reach for first.
The major holidays
| Holiday | Polish name | When |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas | Boże Narodzenie | 24–26 December |
| Christmas Eve (the main event) | Wigilia | 24 December evening |
| Easter | Wielkanoc | spring (movable) |
| New Year's Eve | Sylwester | 31 December |
| New Year's Day | Nowy Rok | 1 January |
| name day | imieniny | per personal name |
| birthday | urodziny | per person |
A few cultural notes worth more than any grammar rule:
- Wigilia (Christmas Eve supper) is the emotional centre of
Boże Narodzenie, not Christmas Day. This is when the family gathers, shares the opłatek (wafer), and eats the twelve meatless dishes. - Sylwester — New Year's Eve — is named after Saint Sylvester, whose name day is 31 December. Poles say "I'm going to a Sylwester party," using the name as the noun.
imieninyandurodzinyare both grammatically plural (like English the news is singular but Polish makes these plural). You always sayurodziny"birthday," never urodzina.
W tym roku spędzamy Wigilię u babci.
This year we're spending Christmas Eve at Grandma's.
Gdzie robicie Sylwestra? — U znajomych, będzie impreza.
Where are you spending New Year's Eve? — At friends', there'll be a party.
The biggest cultural difference: name days
Here is the distinguishing fact English speakers consistently miss. For many Poles, imieniny (name day) is the more celebrated occasion — sometimes more than urodziny (birthday), especially among older generations. Every first name is linked to a calendar date (the feast of the saint of that name), and on that day you congratulate everyone who bears the name. There is no English equivalent at all; the closest a learner can do is understand that Katarzyna has her name day on roughly 25 November, and on that day friends will call to wish her well.
Jutro są imieniny Marka — zadzwoń do niego.
Tomorrow is Marek's name day — give him a call.
Wolę obchodzić imieniny niż urodziny.
I prefer to celebrate my name day rather than my birthday.
obchodzić (imperfective): obchodzić imieniny / urodziny / rocznicę. For a one-off party you "throw," Poles use robić ("to do/make"): robić urodziny "to have a birthday party."The wishes — and why they are in the genitive
Now the second grammar pattern. When you wish someone something in Polish, the thing you wish them lands in the genitive case. The reason is that these are all frozen fragments of a longer sentence: (Życzę ci) Wesołych Świąt! "(I wish you) Merry Christmas!" The verb życzyć ("to wish") governs the genitive, so even after you drop the verb, the genitive ending stays. This is why you say Wesołych and Świąt with genitive endings, not the nominative Wesołe Święta.
| Occasion | Wish (frozen genitive) | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas | Wesołych Świąt! | "(I wish you) of-merry of-holidays" |
| Christmas (alt.) | Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia! | Merry Christmas holidays |
| New Year | Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku! | "(of) a Happy New Year" |
| Easter | Wesołych Świąt Wielkanocnych! | Merry Easter holidays |
| Easter (alt.) | Wesołego Alleluja! | Merry Alleluia |
| birthday / name day / all-purpose | Wszystkiego najlepszego! | "(of) all the best" |
| good health | Dużo zdrowia! | "(of) lots of health" |
| success | Powodzenia! | "(of) good luck" |
Notice the spelling carefully: Świąt has both Ś and ą; Szczęśliwego has the cluster szcz plus ę and ś. These are the two most-misspelled holiday words in the language. Get them right.
Wesołych Świąt i Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Z okazji urodzin życzę ci wszystkiego najlepszego!
On the occasion of your birthday I wish you all the best!
Wesołego Alleluja i smacznego jajka!
Happy Easter and tasty egg! (a traditional Easter wish)
Wszystkiego najlepszego! is your safe all-purpose wish — it works for birthdays, name days, New Year, weddings, almost anything. When in doubt, use it. It is the genitive of wszystko najlepsze "everything (the) best," frozen after the dropped życzę "I wish." See the genitive in fixed expressions.The full, careful version names the recipient and verb: Życzę ci zdrowych, wesołych Świąt "I wish you healthy, merry holidays." The longer you make it, the more obvious the genitive becomes, because the governing verb życzyć is right there.
Życzymy Państwu zdrowych i spokojnych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia.
We wish you healthy and peaceful Christmas holidays. (formal)
Common Mistakes
❌ Wesołe Święta!
Incorrect — nominative; the wish must be genitive
✅ Wesołych Świąt!
Merry Christmas! (frozen genitive after the dropped 'I wish')
❌ Szczęśliwy Nowy Rok!
Incorrect — nominative; should be genitive
✅ Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!
Happy New Year!
English speakers reach for the nominative because in English "Merry Christmas!" is just a noun phrase. In Polish it is the leftover object of życzyć, so it keeps its genitive ending even when the verb vanishes.
❌ W zimie jeżdżę na nartach.
Incorrect — added preposition 'w'; seasons take the bare instrumental
✅ Zimą jeżdżę na nartach.
In winter I go skiing.
❌ Spotkamy się w lato.
Incorrect — preposition + accusative; use the bare instrumental
✅ Spotkamy się latem.
We'll meet in summer.
❌ Świat zamiast Świąt
Incorrect spelling — 'świat' means 'world'; the holidays are 'Święta', genitive 'Świąt'
✅ Wesołych Świąt!
Merry Christmas! (note the ą)
The last one is a genuine trap: świat (with a) means "the world," while Święta / Świąt (with ę / ą) means "the holidays." A missing nasal vowel turns "Merry Christmas" into "Merry World."
Key Takeaways
- Seasons answer "when?" with a bare instrumental and no preposition:
wiosną, latem, jesienią, zimą. - The big holidays:
Boże Narodzenie(Christmas),Wigilia(the all-important Christmas Eve),Wielkanoc(Easter),Sylwester(New Year's Eve),imieniny(name day). - For many Poles,
imieniny(name day) is celebrated as much as or more thanurodziny(birthday) — there is no English equivalent. - Wishes are frozen genitives because the dropped verb
życzyćgoverns the genitive:Wesołych Świąt!,Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!,Wszystkiego najlepszego!. - Mind the diacritics:
Świąt,Szczęśliwego. A missingąoręis a real spelling error.
Now practice Polish
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Start learning Polish→Related Topics
- Wishes for Holidays and OccasionsB1 — Birthday, name-day, Christmas, Easter and New Year wishes — and the hidden grammar that makes nearly every Polish wish a frozen genitive.
- Genitive in Fixed ExpressionsA2 — Everyday social formulas that are secretly genitive — Wszystkiego najlepszego, Smacznego, Powodzenia, Do zobaczenia — because they're elliptical for 'I wish you…' or 'until…'; learnable as chunks now, explainable later.
- Instrumental for Time and MannerB1 — The bare instrumental for dayparts and seasons (rankiem, wieczorem, latem, zimą) and for manner (tym sposobem, przypadkiem) — where English needs 'in the' but Polish needs no preposition.
- Days, Months, and SeasonsA1 — A calendar phrase bank — the days, months, and seasons, plus the three different cases Polish uses in time expressions: w + accusative for days, w + locative for months, and the bare instrumental for seasons.
- Genitive: FormsA2 — How to build the Polish genitive case (dopełniacz) in every gender and number, including the notorious masculine -a/-u split and the zero-ending genitive plural.