Czy masz przy sobie klucze?

Czy is a question particle. It often introduces a yes/no question, a bit like English do/does in questions.

So:

• Masz przy sobie klucze. = You have the keys with you.
• Czy masz przy sobie klucze? = Do you have the keys with you?

In everyday speech, Polish often drops czy and just uses intonation:

• Masz przy sobie klucze?

That is also completely natural.

Masz is the 2nd person singular form of mieć = to have.

It means you have when speaking to one person informally.

Examples:

• mam = I have
• masz = you have
• ma = he/she/it has
• mamy = we have
• macie = you have (plural or formal to more than one person)
• mają = they have

So this sentence is addressed to one person in an informal way.

In Polish, the verb form usually already shows the subject, so ty is often unnecessary.

• masz already means you have

Adding ty is possible, but it adds emphasis:

• Czy ty masz przy sobie klucze? = Do you have the keys on you? / Do you have the keys, specifically?

Without ty, the sentence sounds more neutral and natural in most situations.

Przy sobie is a very common expression meaning something like:

• with you
• on you
• on your person
• in your possession right now

So mieć coś przy sobie means to have something with you at the moment, especially physically available.

Examples:

• Mam przy sobie paszport. = I have my passport with me.
• Nie mam przy sobie gotówki. = I don’t have cash on me.

It is not just about ownership. It is about having something with you right now.

Because after the preposition przy, Polish uses the locative case, and the reflexive pronoun takes the form sobie.

So:

• przy sobie = with/on oneself

You do not say przy siebie.

This is part of how the reflexive pronoun changes by case:

• siebie
• sobie
• sobą etc.

In this expression, sobie is the correct form because of the grammar required by przy.

Klucze is the plural of klucz = key.

Here it is in the accusative plural, because it is the direct object of masz.

For this noun, the nominative plural and accusative plural look the same:

• singular: klucz
• plural: klucze

That is very common with inanimate masculine nouns in Polish.

So although the function is accusative here, the form is still klucze.

Usually klucze here means the keys in context, even though Polish has no article like the.

Polish does not use a/an/the, so whether something is:

• a key
• the key
• keys
• the keys

depends on context.

So Czy masz przy sobie klucze? will often be understood as:

• Do you have the keys with you?

especially if both speakers already know which keys they mean.

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English, though not completely free.

All of these can work:

• Czy masz przy sobie klucze?
• Masz przy sobie klucze?
• Czy masz klucze przy sobie?
• Klucze masz przy sobie? ← more marked, often used for emphasis

The most neutral versions are:

• Czy masz przy sobie klucze?
• Masz przy sobie klucze?

Changing the order can shift the emphasis slightly.

Yes. Czy masz ze sobą klucze? is very natural and very close in meaning.

Both are common:

• przy sobie = with you / on you / on your person
• ze sobą = with you

A rough nuance:

• przy sobie can sound a little more like physically on you / in your immediate possession
• ze sobą can be a bit broader: with you

In many everyday situations, they are interchangeable.

It is informal singular, because of masz.

If you want to ask one person formally, you would normally say:

• Czy ma pan przy sobie klucze? = to a man
• Czy ma pani przy sobie klucze? = to a woman

If you are speaking to several people:

• Czy macie przy sobie klucze?

So masz is for:

• a friend
• a child
• someone you address with ty

A simple pronunciation guide:

• Czy ≈ chi (but with a harder Polish cz sound)
• masz ≈ mahsh
• przy ≈ roughly pshi or pshi/pshy depending on accent approximation
• sobie ≈ SO-byeh
• klucze ≈ KLOO-cheh

Very roughly together:

czy masz przy sobie klucze
≈ chi mahsh pshi SO-byeh KLOO-cheh

A few useful sound notes:

• cz sounds like English ch in chop, but usually a bit harder
• sz sounds like English sh
• rz in przy sounds like a zh/sh-like Polish sound, and the whole cluster can be tricky for learners
• stress in Polish usually falls on the second-to-last syllable of a word:
  • SO-bie
  • KLU-cze

No. Very often you can just use rising intonation.

So both are correct:

• Czy masz przy sobie klucze?
• Masz przy sobie klucze?

The version with czy can sound a bit more explicitly question-like, but both are normal. In conversation, dropping czy is extremely common.

Yes. Przy sobie does not mean only in your hand.

It can mean the keys are:

• in your pocket
• in your bag
• in your coat
• somewhere on your person or with your belongings right now

So the idea is: Do you have them with you right now? not Are you holding them?

Yes, definitely. It is a very useful expression.

Learn it as a chunk:

• mieć przy sobie = to have on/with one’s person

Common examples:

• Mam przy sobie dokumenty. = I have my documents with me.
• Nie mam przy sobie telefonu. = I don’t have my phone on me.
• Miał przy sobie nóż. = He had a knife on him.

This is one of those phrases that is worth memorizing as a whole, not just word by word.