Co słychać?

A natural approximation is tso SWIH-hahch.

A bit more precisely:

• co sounds like tso
• sły- has a short y sound that does not exist exactly in English; it is similar to the vowel in roses for some speakers, but tenser
• -chać has the Polish ch, like a hard h, and ć, a soft ch-like sound

The stress is on the first syllable of słychać: SŁY-chać.

Słychać is an impersonal verb form related to słyszeć (to hear). By itself, it means something like can be heard or is heard.

So literally, Co słychać? is roughly What is heard? But in real usage, that literal sense is not what matters. It functions as a fixed expression meaning What’s up?, How are things?, or What’s going on?

Because this expression is built differently from English.

• co = what
• jak = how

In English, we often ask How are things? or What’s up? Polish happens to use co in this idiom: Co słychać?

So even though the natural English translation may use how, the Polish phrase itself uses what. This is just something to learn as a set expression.

It is usually informal or neutral-friendly.

You can use it:

• with friends
• with classmates
• with coworkers you know reasonably well
• in casual conversation

It is less suitable in very formal situations, especially with strangers or in highly polite contexts.

If you want something more standard and polite, learners often use:

• Jak się masz? — more like How are you?
• Jak się Pan ma? / Jak się Pani ma? — polite forms

That said, Co słychać? is extremely common in everyday speech.

Yes. Co słychać? does not change depending on whether you are speaking to:

• one person
• several people
• a man or a woman

That is one reason it is a convenient phrase. Unlike some other Polish expressions, it stays the same.

Common replies include:

• W porządku. — All good.
• Dobrze. — Fine / Good.
• Nic nowego. — Nothing new.
• Wszystko dobrze. — Everything’s fine.
• A u ciebie? — And you?
• A u was? — And you guys?

If you want to sound natural, a very common pattern is:

• Dobrze, a u ciebie?
• W porządku, dzięki. A co u ciebie?

Both are casual and can mean something like What’s up?, but there is a slight difference in feel.

• Co słychać? is very common and can also carry the sense How are things?
• Co tam? is often even more casual, like So, what’s up? or How’s it going?

In many situations they overlap, but Co słychać? can sound a little more like a general check-in.

In modern Polish, ł is pronounced like the English w.

So in słychać, the ł is not an l sound. That is why the word sounds roughly like swy- rather than sly-.

This is a very important Polish spelling-pronunciation point:

• l = a true l
• ł = w

The ć is a soft consonant. It sounds somewhat like a very soft English ch combined with a y quality.

It is not exactly the same as:

• c = ts
• cz = a hard ch sound
• ci before a vowel = another way of writing a soft ć-type sound

In słychać, the ending -ać is pronounced softly, not like English catch and not like a plain t sound.

Yes. In Polish, it is a perfectly normal complete expression.

Polish often leaves out elements that English would make more explicit. Here, słychać is an impersonal form, and the phrase works as a complete idiomatic question.

So even though a learner may feel that something is missing, nothing is missing in Polish. Co słychać? is complete exactly as it is.

Not really. A word-for-word translation would be something like What is heard?, which sounds unnatural in English.

When going from Polish to English, you should translate by meaning, not literally. Good natural equivalents are:

• What’s up?
• How are things?
• How’s it going?
• What’s going on?

Which one fits best depends on the situation.