Learn Polish: Czy pan ma samochód? - Do you have a car, sir?

In Polish, formal address uses pan (for a man) or pani (for a woman) paired with the 3rd person singular verb, which is the same form you use for he, she, or it. So instead of using the informal masz (you have), we use ma (has). Literally, it is like asking: Does the gentleman have a car?

What is the word Czy doing at the start of the sentence?

Czy is a question particle used for yes/no questions. You put it at the very beginning of a sentence to turn a statement into a question. It functions a lot like the English word Do in this sentence, signaling right away to the listener that they are being asked something.

Why doesn't samochód change its ending here? Doesn't the verb to have usually change the noun?

The verb mieć (to have) does require the following noun to be in the Accusative case because it is the direct object. However, samochód is a masculine non-living noun. For non-living masculine nouns, the Accusative form is identical to the basic dictionary form, so the word does not visibly change.

If I wanted to ask a woman this formally, what would change?