Polish farewells — saying goodbye at a train station by Osman Rana

Though nearly Poles don't give them much idea, Polish farewells—the curt phrases we use to say "cheerio" when parting—are a surprisingly rich part of the linguistic communication.

Each exchange of these conventional pleasantries lets you limited your mood, your emotional attitude towards the other person, likewise as whether you're expecting to meet them again in the near future. All with just i or two words.

To aid you lot observe simply the right Polish goodbye for each occasion, hither is a breakdown of the seven most important means to say "goodbye" in Polish with usage notes and some extra hints.

If you'd like to know how to say "hello" in Polish, check out7 Smooth Greetings to Sound like a Native Speaker.

(Y'all can click each farewell to cheque out its pronunciation at Forvo.)

Formal ways to say "goodbye" in Polish

The two Polish farewells listed in this section are mostly used in contexts which require a certain caste of formality.

You lot can employ these phrases to say "goodbye" to:

  • people yous come across in a professional context, including business contacts, store clerks, taxi drivers, hotel staff, and so on;
  • people who are older than you (e.g. your elderly neighbor) or have some kind of authority over you (teachers, superiors, etc.), even if yous know them pretty well;
  • any person you're non personally familiar with.

Do widzenia ("farewell")

Do widzenia is the standard formal way to say "goodbye" in Polish.

Y'all tin use it in virtually every situation which doesn't call for a fully breezy farewell. Whether you're getting out of a taxi, finishing your Polish classes or leaving a pharmacy, "do widzenia" should always be a rubber bet.

The literal meaning of do widzeniais pretty close to "till we come across once again". It doesn't modify the fact that this conventional goodbye is used even if we have no intention of always seeing the person again.

Dobranoc ("adept night")

Dobranoc is a farewell used late in the solar day. In other words, it'south the Polish way of saying "good nighttime".

While dobranoc is viewed every bit the nighttime equivalent of do widzenia, it isn't restricted to formal contexts only. Here are the two typical scenarios that allow for the use of dobranoc :

  • When parting means in the evening. This mostly applies to more formal social encounters (e.g. when leaving a store or an evening class). With friends and family unit, y'all can use one of the informal farewells instead. Note that many Poles choose to ignore dobranoc in this context and usepractice widzenia throughout the 24-hour interval.
  • When wishing someone a good night's slumber. In this example, the formality of the occasion doesn't matter. Equally long as at to the lowest degree ane of you is going to bed shortly, information technology'due south customary to saydobranocwhen parting ways.This ways that you'll often use dobranoc with your close ones.

Therefore, though I've classified dobranoc as a formal bye, it'due south actually more of apolitefarewell. Its literal meaning is but "good night".

Informal ways to say "goodbye" in Polish

If y'all want to say "cheerio" in Polish in an breezy situation, you accept plenty of phrases to choose from. Below are five Polish farewells that will help you get past in near breezy contexts.

You can use these phrases to say "goodbye" to:

  • family members, friends, piece of work colleagues, fellow students;
  • your peers (mostly among immature people);
  • people yous're on familiar terms with.

Cześć ("farewell")

Cześć is probably the most common way of saying "goodbye" in Polish.

Yous might also know information technology as the equivalent of "hi"—this exceptionally useful Polish give-and-take functions both every bit a greeting and a goodbye.

Maxim "cześć" is the typical way to terminate a coincidental go-together or a friendly conversation with a peer. It tin exist compared to the English "bye".

Do zobaczenia("run into you later")

Saying exercise zobaczeniais a good way to emphasize that you think y'all'll see the other person once more soon.

Though practise zobaczenia sounds an atrocious lot like do widzenia , the 2 cannot really be used interchangeably. They differ both in terms of formality— do zobaczenia is less formal than exercise widzeniaand the unsaid meaning—saying practise zobaczenia means y'all think you're going to meet once more shortly, while do widzeniais often used with strangers whom we might never see once again.

Pa / pa, pa ("adieu" / "bye-bye")

Pais an informal goodbye often used amid family members and friends.

It is a bit more than intimate than the standard informal cześć . Another variant of this farewell is pa, pa .This is even more informal than a single pa , and is oftentimes seen as childish or naive, kind of like "bye-bye" in English.

Na razie ("so long")

Na razie is a relaxed way of saying "goodbye" or "see you" to people you're on familiar terms with.

It might, only doesn't have to, communicate the intention of seeing each other again in the indefinite futurity.

A shorter variant of na razie is nara .Keep in heed that as opposed to na razie , nara is considered slang and should only exist used in very informal contexts (east.g. hanging out with your good buddies over a beer).

Do jutra ("encounter y'all tomorrow")

If you want to say "goodbye" in Polish while communicating that you are going to meet the person the adjacent day,do jutra is the mode to become.

The literal translation of exercise jutra is "until tomorrow". Another fashion to express the aforementioned intention is to say do zobaczenia jutro.

If yous expect to see the person afterward in the week, you can supervene uponjutro with the name of the mean solar day of the week, every bit in do piątku ("until Friday") or do zobaczenia w piątek ("see you on Friday").


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