Learn Polish: Dobry wieczór! Państwo tu pracują?

In Polish, there are formal and informal ways to say "you". Państwo is the formal way to address a group of people (like "ladies and gentlemen" or a married couple). If you were asking a group of friends, you would use the informal plural "you", which is wy.

Why is the verb pracują in the "they" form instead of a "you" form?

When you use formal words like Pan (sir), Pani (madam), or Państwo (ladies and gentlemen), the verb must be in the third-person form (he/she/it/they). Since Państwo is plural, it takes the "they" form of the verb. So, the sentence is structured almost like "Do the ladies and gentlemen work here?".

There is no question word like "Do" or Czy here. How do we know it is a question?

In spoken Polish, you can turn a regular statement into a yes/no question simply by raising your voice at the end. You could also put the word Czy at the very beginning to make it clear it is a question (Czy państwo tu pracują?), but it is very common to leave it out in conversation.

Why does the adjective Dobry end in a "-y"?

In Polish, adjectives have to match the gender of the noun they describe. The word wieczór (evening) is a masculine noun. Therefore, the adjective for "good" takes the basic masculine ending -y, making it Dobry.