Learn Hardcore Polish: Czy mogłaby Pani wysłać mi mail z informacją o poziomie mojego kursu? - Could you please send me an email with information about the level of my course?

Czy mogłaby Pani wysłać…? = Could you send…? (yes/no question)
In everyday spoken Polish, czy is often dropped: Mogłaby Pani wysłać mi mail…? – still perfectly fine.
Using czy makes the question slightly more neutral/formal/clear, and is common in writing.

You don’t need czy in every question, but you will see it a lot in written and polite language.

Why is it mogłaby, not something like może or można?

All three come from the verb móc (can / to be able to), but they’re used differently:

mogłaby – conditional form, feminine 3rd person singular: could (she).
It’s used here because Pani is grammatically she (3rd-person feminine):
- Czy mogłaby Pani…? = Could you (madam) …? (very polite, hypothetical, soft request)
może Pani wysłać…? = Can you send…? (still polite, but a bit more direct / less soft than mogłaby)
można wysłać…? = impersonal is it possible to send…? (much more neutral/impersonal).

So mogłaby makes it a polite, conditional request: Would you be able to / Could you….

Why is Pani capitalized, and what exactly does it mean here?

Pani literally means lady / madam, but in modern Polish it functions as a polite, formal “you” when speaking to an adult woman you’re not on first‑name terms with.

It’s capitalized (Pani) when you’re addressing the person directly, as a sign of respect (like writing You with a capital letter in very formal English).
It’s grammatically 3rd person singular feminine, so verbs and adjectives agree with it as if you were talking about her:
- Pani mogłaby (she could)
- Pani jest zajęta (she is busy → You are busy, ma’am)

To address a man formally, you’d use Pan (also capitalized in direct address):

Czy mógłby Pan wysłać mi mail…?

Why is the order mogłaby Pani wysłać, not Pani mogłaby wysłać?

Both are possible:

Czy mogłaby Pani wysłać mi mail…?
Czy Pani mogłaby wysłać mi mail…?

The difference is very slight:

mogłaby Pani wysłać – more neutral, typical polite question word order.
Pani mogłaby wysłać – puts a tiny bit more emphasis on Pani (you), e.g. contrasting with someone else.

In ordinary polite requests, Czy mogłaby Pani… is the most common and natural pattern.

What’s the function of mi here, and how is it different from mnie?

mi and mnie are both 1st person singular dative forms: to me / for me.

wysłać mi mail = send me an email (literally send to me an email).
mi is the unstressed form, used in the middle of the sentence:
- Proszę mi wysłać mail.
mnie is the stressed form, used for emphasis or at the beginning/end:
- Proszę wysłać mail do mnie, nie do niego. (to me, not to him)

In this sentence, mi is the normal, natural choice: wysłać mi mail.

Why is it wysłać and not wysyłać? What’s the difference?

Polish verbs come in aspects: imperfective and perfective.

wysyłać (imperfective) – to be sending / to send (generally, repeatedly, process)
wysłać (perfective) – to send (one completed action, result-focused)

In polite requests for a single, completed action, you almost always use the perfective:

Czy mogłaby Pani wysłać mi mail…? = Could you send (once, and complete the action) an email to me…?

If you used wysyłać here, it would sound strange, as if you were asking her to be in the process of sending or to send regularly.

Why is it mail, not maila? I often see maila too.

The word mail (or e‑mail) is a loanword and is masculine inanimate.

Grammatically, the standard accusative singular is the same as the nominative:

(Nom.) Ten mail jest ważny. – This email is important.
(Acc.) Wysłałem mail. – I sent an email.

However, in colloquial spoken Polish, people very often say maila in the accusative:

Wysłałem maila. (very common in speech, slightly informal)

In a careful, neutral written sentence like yours, wysłać mi mail is perfectly correct and stylistically safe. You’ll certainly hear maila a lot in everyday conversation though.

What does z informacją literally mean, and why is it z + informacją?

z informacją literally means “with information” or “with the information”.

The preposition z (with) requires the instrumental case, so:
- informacja (nominative) → informacją (instrumental)

So mail z informacją o poziomie mojego kursu literally is:

an email with information about the level of my course

You could also phrase it slightly differently, e.g.:

mail z informacjami o… – an email with pieces of information about…
mail z dokładną informacją o… – an email with detailed information about…

Why is it o poziomie, not o poziom?

The preposition o has different meanings depending on the case:

o
- locative (here): about, concerning
- informacja o poziomie kursu = information about the level of the course
- poziom (nom.) → poziomie (locative)
o
- accusative: can mean by (a certain amount) in comparisons, or for in some other contexts:
- Podniosło się o jeden poziom. – It went up by one level.

In your sentence, the meaning is about, so o must be followed by the locative: o poziomie.

Why is it poziomie mojego kursu and not something like poziom mój kurs?

The phrase poziomie mojego kursu is a noun (poziom) with an of-phrase:

poziom = level
mój kurs = my course
poziom mojego kursu = the level of my course

In Polish, that of-phrase is usually expressed with the genitive:

mój kurs (nominative) → mojego kursu (genitive)
poziom mojego kursu – literally: level of my course

Because of o, you also need the locative on poziom:

o poziomie mojego kursu – about the level of my course

Saying poziom mój kurs does not form a correct noun phrase in Polish.

How formal is this whole sentence? Would I say this to a friend?

The sentence is clearly formal:

Czy… – neutral/formal question opener
mogłaby – polite conditional
Pani – formal address to a woman

This is suitable for:

emails to a teacher, school administrator, university office
formal messages to someone you don’t know well or must show respect to

To a friend (informal ty form), you would say:

Czy mogłabyś wysłać mi mail z informacją o poziomie mojego kursu?
or more casually
Możesz wysłać mi maila z informacją o poziomie mojego kursu?

Could I add proszę somewhere to make it even more polite? Where would it go?

Yes, proszę (please) is very common in such requests. Typical options:

Czy mogłaby mi Pani proszę wysłać mail z informacją o poziomie mojego kursu?
Czy mogłaby Pani wysłać mi proszę mail z informacją o poziomie mojego kursu?
Or a bit more direct but very standard in formal writing:
- Proszę o mail z informacją o poziomie mojego kursu.

All of these are polite; the original sentence is already polite, proszę just adds an extra layer of courtesy.

If I were writing to a man instead of a woman, what parts of the sentence would change?

You mainly need to switch Pani to Pan and adjust the verb form to masculine:

Czy mógłby Pan wysłać mi mail z informacją o poziomie mojego kursu?

Changes:

Pani → Pan (formal you to a man)
mogłaby (3rd person feminine) → mógłby (3rd person masculine)

Everything else (wysłać mi mail z informacją o poziomie mojego kursu) stays the same.