Formal address: Pan and Pani
To respectfully address strangers or elders in Polish, replace the informal "you" (ty) with formal titles:
- pan (sir / Mr.) for a man
- pani (madam / Mrs.) for a woman
With pan and pani, always use the third-person singular (he/she/it) verb form. You are essentially asking "Where is the gentleman?" instead of "Where are you?".
| Where are you, sir? | Gdzie pan jest? |
Yes/no questions with "czy"
Add the word czy to the beginning of a statement to turn it into a yes/no question.
| Are you close by, madam? | Czy pani jest blisko? |
This pattern works with any verb. For example, the third-person form of "to have" is ma (he/she/it has). With a formal title, it politely means "you have".
| Do you have a car, sir? | Czy pan ma samochód? |
| Where is your house, madam? | Gdzie pani ma dom? |
Negation
The words for "yes" and "no" are tak and nie. To make a sentence negative, place nie directly before the verb.
| You do not understand, sir. | Pan nie rozumie. |
| Do you understand, madam? | Czy pani rozumie? |
Because formal address relies entirely on third-person verb forms, you use the exact same verb for pan/pani (you) as you do for on/ona (he/she):
| Yes, she understands. | Tak, ona rozumie. |
You can also add tak to the end of a statement to mean "right?" or "aren't you?":
| You are reading, aren't you, sir? | Pan czyta, tak? |
| Where do you read, madam? | Gdzie pani czyta? |
| No, he is not reading. | Nie, on nie czyta. |