Please, Thank You, and Politeness Formulas | Polish Grammar

A handful of words carry almost all of everyday Polish politeness, and the most important of them — proszę — does the work of five separate English words. This page locks in the core courtesy toolkit: proszę, dziękuję, przepraszam, and the small set of replies that go with them. Master these four and you can be polite in a shop, a café, an office, or on the street from day one. The single biggest source of confusion for English speakers is that proszę is not just "please" — so we start there.

proszę: the five-in-one politeness word

In English you need five different words for the situations below. In Polish, every one of them is proszę. It is the present tense of prosić "to request", but as a courtesy word it has spread far beyond "please".

Situation	Polish	English equivalent
Asking for something	proszę	please
Handing something over	proszę / proszę bardzo	here you are
Replying to "thank you"	proszę / proszę bardzo	you're welcome
Granting permission / inviting	proszę	go ahead / please do / come in
Didn't catch what was said	Proszę? / Słucham?	pardon? / sorry?

Look at how one word stretches across these:

Poproszę dwie kawy, proszę.

Two coffees, please. (proszę = please)

— Oto pańska reszta. — Dziękuję. — Proszę bardzo.

— Here's your change. — Thank you. — You're welcome. (proszę bardzo = you're welcome)

Proszę, to dla ciebie.

Here you are — this is for you. (proszę = here you are, handing over)

— Czy mogę usiąść? — Proszę, proszę.

— May I sit down? — Please do, go right ahead. (proszę = go ahead)

Proszę? Nie dosłyszałem.

Sorry? I didn't catch that. (Proszę? = pardon?)

💡

When in doubt about which courtesy word to use, proszę is very often right. Hand someone the salt? Proszę. They thank you? Proszę. They ask to come in? Proszę. You misheard? Proszę? (with rising intonation). It is the Swiss-army knife of Polish politeness — one of the first words to truly own.

One important intonation note: Proszę? with a rising question intonation means "pardon? / could you repeat that?". With falling intonation, Proszę. is "here you are / go ahead". Same word, opposite jobs — the tune disambiguates. A very common alternative for "pardon?" is Słucham? (literally "I'm listening?"), which is the polite, neutral way to ask someone to repeat themselves and never sounds rude.

Poproszę: THE way to order and request things

When you want to ask for something concrete — a coffee, the bill, a ticket — the natural Polish is Poproszę + the thing, not a bare proszę. Poproszę is the perfective ("I'll request"), and it carries a polite, almost conditional flavour, much like English "I'll have…" or "Could I get…". This is the default ordering and asking formula in Poland.

Poproszę czarną herbatę i sernik.

I'll have a black tea and a slice of cheesecake, please.

Poproszę o rachunek.

The bill, please. (Poproszę o + accusative)

Poproszę dwa bilety normalne.

Two adult tickets, please.

Notice the two patterns: Poproszę + accusative for a thing you'll receive directly (poproszę kawę), and Poproszę o + accusative for asking someone to bring/do something (poproszę o rachunek, poproszę o pomoc). Both are everyday; the bare-accusative version dominates ordering. For the full conjugation and government of the verb, see the verb prosić.

proszę + infinitive: the polite instruction

Proszę also softens a command. Proszę + infinitive turns a bare imperative into a polite request or instruction — the form you hear from officials, doctors, and signs ("please wait", "please come in"). It is impersonal and respectful, which is why it works on strangers regardless of gender.

Proszę poczekać chwilę, zaraz wracam.

Please wait a moment, I'll be right back.

Proszę wejść i usiąść.

Please come in and sit down.

Proszę się nie martwić, wszystko będzie dobrze.

Please don't worry, everything will be fine.

This proszę + infinitive request, and how it sits among the other ways to ask, is developed on the making requests, offers, and suggestions page.

dziękuję: thank you, and its dial

Dziękuję ("thank you") is the standard. You can turn the volume up with bardzo ("very") or, more warmly, serdecznie ("warmly / from the heart"):

Form	Register	Feel
dziękuję	neutral	standard "thank you"
dziękuję bardzo	neutral	"thank you very much"
dziękuję serdecznie	warm / formal	"thank you so much" / "many thanks"
dzięki	informal	"thanks" (friends only)
wielkie dzięki	informal	"thanks a lot"

Dzięki is the casual "thanks" — friends, peers, texts. Don't use it with someone you'd address as pan/pani; there, dziękuję (and dziękuję bardzo) is the right tone.

Dziękuję bardzo za miłe przyjęcie.

Thank you very much for the lovely welcome.

Dzięki, jesteś wielki!

Thanks, you're the best! (informal)

A subtle but useful point: Dziękuję can also politely decline an offer — "no, thank you". If someone offers you more and you say only dziękuję (often with a small gesture), it usually means "no thanks, I'm fine". To clearly accept, add poproszę or tak; to clearly refuse, nie, dziękuję.

— Jeszcze trochę ciasta? — Dziękuję, już nie dam rady.

— A bit more cake? — No thank you, I couldn't manage any more.

💡

Beware the polite "no thank you" trap. A bare dziękuję in response to an offer (Jeszcze kawy? "More coffee?") usually reads as a refusal, not acceptance — the opposite of what an English speaker expects from a warm "thank you!". If you actually want more, say poproszę or tak, chętnie ("yes, gladly"). To refuse clearly, nie, dziękuję.

Replying to thanks: proszę / nie ma za co / proszę bardzo

When someone thanks you, the replies are:

Proszę / Proszę bardzo — "you're welcome" (the everyday default).
Nie ma za co — literally "there's nothing to [thank] for", i.e. "don't mention it / no problem". Warm and very common.
Drobiazg — "[it was] a trifle / no biggie" (casual).
Cała przyjemność po mojej stronie — "the pleasure is all mine" (formal/warm).

— Dziękuję za podwiezienie. — Nie ma za co!

— Thanks for the lift. — Don't mention it!

— Bardzo dziękuję za pomoc. — Proszę bardzo, drobiazg.

— Thank you so much for the help. — You're welcome, it was nothing.

przepraszam: sorry AND excuse me

Przepraszam does double duty: it is both "sorry" (apologising for a fault) and "excuse me" (getting attention or asking to pass). As an attention-getter it often precedes a question — Przepraszam, czy…? ("Excuse me, is/does…?").

Przepraszam, czy to miejsce jest zajęte?

Excuse me, is this seat taken?

Przepraszam, nie chciałem pana urazić.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you.

Przepraszam, czy mógłby pan się przesunąć?

Excuse me, could you move over a little?

The richer territory of apologies (and how przepraszam differs from przykro mi, "I'm sorry" as sympathy) is on the apologizing, thanking, and responding page.

A polite transactional exchange — at the café counter

— Dzień dobry. Poproszę dużą kawę z mlekiem.

— Good morning. A large coffee with milk, please.

— Coś jeszcze? — Tak, poproszę o szklankę wody. Dziękuję.

— Anything else? — Yes, a glass of water, please. Thank you.

— Proszę, to dla pana. Dziesięć złotych reszty. — Dziękuję bardzo. — Proszę bardzo, do widzenia.

— Here you are, sir. Ten złoty change. — Thank you very much. — You're welcome, goodbye.

Common Mistakes

Saying a bare proszę to order, instead of poproszę + the item. A naked proszę before a noun sounds incomplete; the natural order is Poproszę kawę.

❌ Proszę kawę.

Awkward as an order — sounds incomplete.

✅ Poproszę kawę.

A coffee, please.

Using dzięki with someone you address as pan/pani. It's too casual for formal contexts.

❌ Dzięki, panie doktorze.

Too casual for a doctor.

✅ Dziękuję, panie doktorze.

Thank you, Doctor.

Reaching for witaj or another word for "you're welcome". The reply to dziękuję is proszę / proszę bardzo / nie ma za co — not a greeting word.

❌ — Dziękuję. — Witaj.

Wrong — 'witaj' is a greeting, not 'you're welcome'.

✅ — Dziękuję. — Proszę bardzo.

— Thank you. — You're welcome.

Misspelling the core words. They carry diacritics: proszę (ę), dziękuję (ę twice), przepraszam (no marks, but watch the rz and sz). Dropping them is a spelling error, not a stylistic one.

❌ prosze / dziekuje

Incorrect — missing the ę.

✅ proszę / dziękuję

please / thank you (correct spelling).

Using Co? ("What?") when you mishear someone you're being polite to. Bare Co? is blunt; the polite forms are Proszę? or Słucham?.

❌ Co? (to a stranger)

Blunt — sounds rude when asking someone to repeat.

✅ Słucham? / Proszę?

Sorry? / Pardon? (polite)

Key Takeaways

proszę is five English words in one: please, here you are, you're welcome, go ahead, and (rising tone) pardon?.
Poproszę (o) … is THE polite way to order and ask for things — poproszę kawę, poproszę o rachunek.
proszę + infinitive is the polite, impersonal instruction: proszę poczekać, proszę wejść.
dziękuję (+ bardzo / serdecznie) is standard thanks; dzięki is the informal "thanks". Dziękuję alone can mean "no, thank you".
Reply to thanks with proszę / proszę bardzo / nie ma za co; mishear with Proszę? / Słucham?, never blunt Co?.

Now practice Polish

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Polish→