Lesson 2

People in Polish

You learn how Polish names people in speech: the speaker, the listener, one person, and groups of people.

The lesson introduces simple identification, basic pronouns, and the first forms of to be so you can say who someone is.

Lesson warmup

Warm up with the song

Listen once before practice to get into the rhythm of the lesson and recognize the key words.

Lesson song

Ja to ja

A lesson song to repeat the people words, the pattern to, and the first forms of być with rhythm.

Open on YouTube

Listen and read

0:00 / 0:56

After practice

Continue with the podcast

After the main experience, listen to the podcast to meet the same topic in another context.

Companion podcast

8:38

Ja, ty, on, ona — osoby w polskim

A slow Polish-only episode about personal pronouns, the verb być, Polish genders, and the word to.

Listen with translation

The word to

Presenting and defining

Before the person words, it is useful to understand to. It is a small pointing word. In this lesson, it helps you say that one thing is another thing.

You see it in two patterns: X to Y for simple definitions, and To jest... for presenting a person, animal, or thing.

At this stage, treat each pattern as a useful whole, not as a word-by-word translation.

Pattern	Use	Example	Meaning
X to Y	simple definition	Ja to ja.	I am me.
To jest...	present someone or something	To jest kobieta.	This is a woman.

To jest mężczyzna. This is a man.

To jest dziecko. This is a child.

Singular people

ja, ty, on, ona, ono

For basic definitions, Polish can use X to Y: On to mężczyzna, Ona to kobieta, Ono to dziecko.

For polite introductions with names, use pan and pani: To jest pan Adam, To jest pani Ewa.

Word	Meaning	Lesson example	Translation
ja	I	Ja to ja.	I am me.
ty	you	Ty to ty.	You are you.
on	he	On to mężczyzna.	He is a man.
ona	she	Ona to kobieta.	She is a woman.
ono	it	Ono to dziecko.	It is a child.
pan	sir; polite he	To jest pan Adam.	This is Mr. Adam.
pani	ma'am; polite she	To jest pani Ewa.	This is Ms. Ewa.

Plural people

my, wy, oni, one, państwo

Before the full być table, learn who the plural person words refer to.

These examples still use the simple pattern X to Y. In the next note, you will connect the same words with jesteśmy, jesteście, and są.

Word	Meaning	Lesson example	Translation
my	we	My to ja i ty.	We are me and you.
wy	you all	Wy to ty i ty.	You all are you and you.
oni	they (men or mixed)	Oni to on i on.	They are he and he.
one	they (women, children, or things)	One to ona i ona.	They are she and she.
państwo	you all (polite)	Państwo to pan i pani.	Państwo means pan and pani.

The verb być

być means to be

Być means to be. Each person gets its own form — Polish does not use one form for everyone.

Ja jestem, ty jesteś, on jest. For the plural: my jesteśmy, wy jesteście, oni są.

Polite forms follow the same pattern: pan jest, pani jest, państwo są.

Person	Form of być	Translation
ja	jestem	I am
ty	jesteś	you are
on	jest	he is
ona	jest	she is
ono	jest	it is
my	jesteśmy	we are
wy	jesteście	you all are
oni	są	they are
one	są	they are
pan	jest	you are, polite to a man
pani	jest	you are, polite to a woman
państwo	są	you all are, polite

Gender in Polish

on, ona, ono

Every Polish noun has a gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. On is masculine, ona is feminine, ono is neuter.

In this lesson, notice the person examples first: mężczyzna goes with on, kobieta goes with ona, and dziecko goes with ono.

Gender	Person word	Examples
masculine	on	człowiek (person), mężczyzna (man), tata (dad)
feminine	ona	kobieta (woman), mama (mum)
neuter	ono	dziecko (child)

Remember

Three person words, three genders. Keep this map close.

on-masculine gender

ona-feminine gender

ono-neuter gender

to-a word used to point to people, animals, and things