Lesson 02

First Meetings in Poland

English Dialogue - Polish Vocabulary

Miło - nice, nicely Mieć - to have
Hi! A: Cześć!
Ty - you Dzięki - Thanks
Hey! B: Hej! (informal)
Imię - name
Masculine is ‘fajny’,
What's your name? A: Jak masz na imię? Fajny - cool feminine is ‘fajna’ and
neuter is ‘fajne
I'm Gosia. And you? B: Jestem Gosia. A ty? Hej - hey

I'm Alex. A: Jestem Alex.

Nice to meet you. You Miło mi. Fajne

B:
have a cool name. masz imię.

Thanks. A: Dzięki.

Grammar: The Focus of this Lesson is Asking for Someone's Name and Answering the Question
Jestem Gosia. A ty?
"I'm Gosia. And you?"

The other ways of introducing yourself that are a little bit more grammatically difficult are: Mam na
imię Robert and Nazywam się Robert Kowalski.

Let's take a closer look at Mam na imię Robert. This sentence contains of the verb "to have" - mieć,
conjugated to the first person singular, mam. Then there's the preposition na, which stands for the
English "for," followed by imię, the noun meaning "name" in English, and lastly Robert, the name of
the person introducing himself/herself. Altogether it's Mam na imię Robert ("My name is Robert"). 

The other option is Nazywam się Robert Kowalski. As you have probably noticed, in this case, we give
not only our first name, but also the surname. This is necessary whenever using the verb nazywać się,
which can be translated as "to have for a name." We will talk about this verb more in the Beginner
Series. Jak masz na imię? - "What's your name?" If you want to know someone's full name, it's
better to say Jak się nazywasz?For example:

1. A: Cześć. Jak masz na imię?

A: "Hi. What's your name?"

2. B: Jestem Tomek. A ty?

B: "I'm Tomek. And you?"

Language Expansion

Whenever you find yourself in a formal setting, it's very easy to switch into formal speech in Polish
language. If you have to address for example someone you don't know yet, it's enough to add one of
two words to your question about his or her name - pani, which means "ma'am" or "mrs." or pan,
which means "sir" or "mr." 

1. Jak masz na imię?

Jak ma pani na imię?

"What's your name, ma'am?"

2. Jak masz na imię?

Jak ma pan na imię?

"What's your name, sir?"