Make sure you will never make them again!

Let’s find out what the most common mistakes are for all beginners learning Polish. Maybe you make some of them as well?

MISTAKE 1 

Miłego dnia means have a nice day. When I say it to foreigners, they often answer: ty też! (lit.you too). This is because they translate the English phrase you too. That’s not correct!

You should answer: nawzajem or wzajemnie. Both of these words mean something like: “the same to you”, and they are synonymous.

Have a look at a short dialogue:

A: Miłego dnia!

B: Nawzajem! (or: Wzajemnie!)

You can use nawzajem or wzajemnie in all situations when someone is wishing you something, and you want to wish it back, e.g.:

A: Smacznego! (Enjoy your meal!) 

B: Nawzajem! (of course, you can say it if the second person is eating at the same time).

A: Miłego weekendu! (Have a nice weekend!) 

B: Nawzajem!

MISTAKE 2

I also sometimes ask some foreign friends, e.g., Co słychać? (How are you?), and they answer and then say: a ty? (and you?). Our conversation looks like this: 

Me: Co słychać? 

He/she: Dobrze. A ty? 

Well, that’s not correct! 🙂

Let me explain step by step. 

How can we say How are you? in Polish? Here are some options:

1) Jak się masz? (How are you?) 

2) Co słychać? (How are you?) 

3) Co u ciebie? (How are you?) 

4) Co tam? (What’s up?) 

5) Jak leci? (How’s it going?).

You can hear all these questions in Poland and many more. 🙂 Yes, the first three I can only translate as How are you? There is no other way to translate them.

Now read this short dialogue:

A: Jak się masz?

B: Dobrze. A ty? 

A: Super.  

So: A ty? means And you? 

But if somebody starts the conversation with you using the question number 2, 3, 4, or 5 (look above), you can’t say: A ty? You have to say: A u ciebie? Have a look:

A: Co słychać? 

B: Wszystko dobrze. A u ciebie? 

A: Super.

You have to pay attention to which question you hear at the beginning of the conversation to know if you should say: A ty? or A u ciebie? 

I need to point out that you will very rarely hear the question Jak się masz? in Poland. The other questions I mentioned earlier are much more popular. This means that you will usually have to use A u ciebie?.

MISTAKE 3 

Sometimes when I ask my foreign friends how they are doing, they answer: Jestem dobrze. That’s not correct! 🙂 I imagine they translate English I’m fine into Polish. That’s normal when you are learning a new language.  🙂

 Have a look: 

A: Jak leci? (How it’s going?)

B: Dobrze. (You can’t say: Jestem dobrze. That’s NOT correct. You only answer: dobrze or wszystko dobrze, etc.).