Language/Polish/Vocabulary/Numbers-and-Counting

Polish → Vocabulary → Numbers and Counting

In this lesson, you will learn how to count in Polish and use numbers in everyday situations. As a Polish language teacher with 20 years of experience, I will provide you with some cultural information and interesting facts to make your learning more enjoyable.

Cardinal Numbers

Cardinal numbers are used to represent quantity, and you will need to know them to count in Polish. Here are the numbers from 1 to 10:

Cardinal Numbers from 1 to 10

Polish	Pronunciation	English
jeden	yeh-den	one
dwa	dvah	two
trzy	tshih	three
cztery	ch-teh-ry	four
pięć	pyehnc	five
sześć	sheh-shch	six
siedem	syeh-dem	seven
osiem	oh-shyem	eight
dziewięć	dyih-vyench	nine
dziesięć	jeh-syehnc	ten

As you can see, some Polish sounds can be challenging. I recommend listening to Polish speakers or using online resources to improve your pronunciation.

After the number 5, you add the word "naście" to form the numbers from 11 to 19. For example: "jedenaście" means "eleven" and "trzynaście" means "thirteen".

For numbers from 20 and above, you need to combine the tens with the units. For example, 23 is "dwadzieścia trzy" which means "twenty three".

Here are the tens:

Tens in Polish

Polish	Pronunciation	English
dwadzieścia	dvah-dzyeh-shchya	twenty
trzydzieści	tshih-dzyeh-shch	thirty
czterdzieści	ch-teh-dzyeh-shch	forty
pięćdziesiąt	pyehnd-dzyeh-shahnt	fifty
sześćdziesiąt	sheh-shch-dzyeh-shahnt	sixty
siedemdziesiąt	syeh-dem-dzyeh-shahnt	seventy
osiemdziesiąt	oh-shyem-dzyeh-shahnt	eighty
dziewięćdziesiąt	dyih-vyennd-dzyeh-shahnt	ninety

To form any number greater than 99, we combine the hundreds, tens and units with the word "i" (and). For example, 258 is "dwieście pięćdziesiąt osiem" which means "two hundred fifty eight".

Here are the hundreds:

Hundreds in Polish

Polish	Pronunciation	English
sto	stoh	one hundred
dwieście	dv-yeh-schya	two hundred
trzysta	tshistah	three hundred
czterysta	ch-teh-ry-stah	four hundred
pięćset	pyehnc-set	five hundred
sześćset	sheh-shch-set	six hundred
siedemset	syeh-dem-set	seven hundred
osiemset	oh-shyem-set	eight hundred
dziewięćset	dyih-vyennd-set	nine hundred

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers are used to represent rank, position or order. They are formed by adding a suffix to the cardinal number. Here are the ordinal numbers from 1st to 10th:

Ordinal Numbers from 1st to 10th

Polish	Pronunciation	English
pierwszy	pyehr-sheh	first
drugi	droo-ghee	second
trzeci	tshet-shee	third
czwarty	ch-vahr-tih	fourth
piąty	pyan-tih	fifth
szósty	shoh-stih	sixth
siódmy	shohd-mih	seventh
ósmy	ohs-mih	eighth
dziewiąty	dzyeh-vya-nih-tih	ninth
dziesiąty	jeh-syahn-nih-tih	tenth

After the number 5 (piąty), a different pattern appears with the suffix "-ty" being replaced by "-tyi". For example, the ordinal number for "sixth" is "szósty" and for "fifth" is "piąty".

Ordinal numbers can be used to talk about dates (like "January 1st") or to describe the order of things (like "the third house").

Counting objects

When counting objects, Polish has a different form for each gender. For masculine objects use "jeden" or "dwa" (for singular and dual forms respectively), and for feminine objects use "jedna" or "dwie". For example:

Counting objects in Polish

Polish	Pronunciation	English
jeden dom	yeh-den dohm	one house (masculine)
dwa psy	dvah psi	two dogs (masculine)
jedna książka	yehd-nah ksi-ohmp-kah	one book (feminine)
dwie dziewczyny	dv-yeh dzyeh-v-choh-ny	two girls (feminine)

Time and Dates

When telling the time, the hour is given using cardinal numbers followed by the word "godzina" (hour), and the minutes are given using cardinal numbers followed by the word "minuta" (minute). For example, 1:15 PM is "trzynaście piętnaście" which means "thirteen fifteen".

When talking about dates, Polish uses the format day-month-year. For example, January 1st, 2022 is "pierwszego stycznia dwa tysiące dwadzieścia drugiego".

Conclusion

I hope this lesson helped you learn how to count in Polish and use numbers in everyday situations. Remember to practice your pronunciation and try to use Polish numbers whenever you have the opportunity.

Sources

• How To Count To 100 In Polish
• Polish games: fun practice quizzes for language learning

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