Learn Polish: Dzień dobry! Czy pan tu mieszka? - Good morning! Do you live here?

In Polish, czy is a handy word used to start a yes/no question. While English changes the starting word depending on the sentence (Do, Does, Are, Is, etc.), Polish simply puts czy at the beginning of a statement to turn it into a question.

The translation says "Do you live here", so why does the sentence use pan (sir/gentleman) instead of ty (you)?

Pan is the formal way to address a man as "you". You use it when talking to strangers, elders, or people in a professional setting. If you were asking a friend, you would use the informal ty and ask, Czy ty tu mieszkasz?.

Why is the verb mieszka instead of mieszkasz if it means "you live"?

When you use the formal pan (or pani for a woman), the verb has to take the "he/she/it" form. Since pan literally means "gentleman" or "sir", grammatically the sentence is structured like "Does the gentleman live here?". That's why we use mieszka (he lives) instead of mieszkasz (you live).

Literally, Dzień dobry translates to "Day good". Is it normal to put the noun before the adjective in Polish?

Usually, Polish puts adjectives before nouns just like English. However, Dzień dobry is a fixed, traditional greeting, so the word order is locked in place. You will use this exact phrase for both "Good morning" and "Good afternoon".