7 ways to greet in Poland!

Hello friends! I've got a couple of Polish greetings for you to grasp today! Click on the small espressions to hear the pronunciation. 

The first one is:

Dzień dobry!  dzień dobry

Literally meaning Good Day – use it in the morning till evening. It is a formal all-purpose greeting you can use to greet people in the street, shops and at work. You can use it when talking to elderly people as well. If you say it in the evening – it's also not a problem, but it's more natural to use the second greeting:

Dobry wieczór dobry wieczór

Use it when it's dark outside. Just like the previous one it is a formal greeting you can use in all situations when greeting in the evening.

The next one is:

Cześć! cześć

Used informally to friends and family in all situations for saying both Hello and Goodbye!

Hej! hej

Just like the previous one – used informally to friends and family but rather just to say Hi! 

Siema!/ Siemanko! siema

Only informally and only with close friends. It's a short form of „Jak się masz?” (How are you?)

Special ones:

Halo! halo

Both formal and informal to say over the phone: Halo? (with raising intonation like in question or you can also say Słucham? or Tak?)

Witaj/Witajcie (Welcome – singular/plural)

 witaj

witajcie

Used formally to greet newcomers or viewers on TV/online.

We can also use personalized forms: 

Witam Pana/Panią (Welcome Sir/Madam) and Witam Państwa (Welcome all) or in plural form Witamy Pana/Panią/ Państwa (we welcome you Sir/ Madam/ all)

witamy

Used to start a formal meeting and written on road signs (Witamy)

Here you have it! I hope it was nice and clear!

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Cześć!

Take care, Kasia