Learn Polish Numbers: From “jeden” to “sto”

1-10

Basic numbers: jeden, dwa, trzy, cztery, pięć, sześć, siedem, osiem, dziewięć, dziesięć

These ten words are your starting point. Learn them with their Polish diacritics: pięć (5) and sześć (6). The word for zero is zero.

11-19

The “-naście” ending: jedenaście, dwanaście, trzynaście, czternaście, piętnaście, szesnaście, siedemnaście, osiemnaście, dziewiętnaście

All numbers from 11 to 19 end in -naście and are written as one word. Some word stems change: pięć becomes piętnaście (15), and sześć becomes szesnaście (16).

20-99

Tens + ones: dwadzieścia jeden (21), trzydzieści pięć (35)

The tens and ones are separate words, with no “and” or hyphen between them. Learn the tens: dwadzieścia (20), trzydzieści (30) and czterdzieści (40). From 50 to 90, they end in -dziesiąt, as in pięćdziesiąt (50).

100+

Hundreds and thousands: sto (100), sto jeden (101), tysiąc (1,000)

Work from largest to smallest: sto dwadzieścia jeden (121). Keep the words separate. Learn the hundreds individually, including dwieście (200), trzysta (300) and pięćset (500).

Pro tip: Train numbers by listening. This quiz is a quick check. With Numfred, you can practice spoken numbers in 15 languages, including Polish, with focused number ranges. Download Numfred for iPhone on the App Store.

100–900

sto (100), dwieście (200), trzysta (300), czterysta (400), pięćset (500), sześćset (600), siedemset (700), osiemset (800), dziewięćset (900)

The hundreds have their own forms: sto, dwieście, then -sta for 300 and 400, and -set from 500 onwards. Each exact hundred is one word. Add the remaining numbers as separate words: dwieście trzydzieści siedem (237).

1,000, 2,000, 3,000 ...

tysiąc (1,000), dwa tysiące (2,000), trzy tysiące (3,000), cztery tysiące (4,000), pięć tysięcy (5,000), sześć tysięcy (6,000), siedem tysięcy (7,000), osiem tysięcy (8,000), dziewięć tysięcy (9,000)

For 1,000, tysiąc is enough; jeden tysiąc is also possible. Use tysiące for two to four thousand and tysięcy for five to nine thousand. The number of thousands determines the form: 2,500 is dwa tysiące pięćset, while 5,002 is pięć tysięcy dwa.

10,000 and Above

10,000: dziesięć tysięcy,
100,000: sto tysięcy

For larger numbers, use tysiące when the number of thousands ends in 2, 3 or 4, unless its last two digits are 12, 13 or 14. Compare dwadzieścia dwa tysiące (22,000) with dwanaście tysięcy (12,000), and sto dwadzieścia dwa tysiące (122,000) with sto dwanaście tysięcy (112,000). All other plural counts take tysięcy, including 21,000: dwadzieścia jeden tysięcy. An ending of 1 does not mean you switch back to tysiąc.

1,000,000

milion (one million)

You can also say jeden milion. The plural follows the same pattern as thousands: dwa miliony (2 million), pięć milionów (5 million). Likewise, dwadzieścia dwa miliony means 22 million, but dwanaście milionów means 12 million.

1,000,000,000

miliard (one billion)

The same pattern applies to billions: dwa miliardy (2 billion), pięć miliardów (5 billion). Polish miliard means one thousand million: 1,000,000,000, or one billion in English.

1,000,000,000,000

bilion (one trillion)

The plural forms are dwa biliony (2 trillion) and pięć bilionów (5 trillion). Watch out for this false friend: Polish bilion means a trillion (1,000,000,000,000), not an English billion. For a billion, use miliard.

• 18 or 80? Listen to the ending:
  Compare osiemnaście (18) and osiemdziesiąt (80). They start the same way, so the ending makes the difference. Practise listening to them in turn and writing down the number you hear. Say the longer words slowly at first, then build up to saying each word smoothly.
• “Dwa” or “dwie”?
  Dwa bilety means “two tickets”, but dwie kawy means “two coffees”. Feminine nouns take dwie here. Learn the number and noun together so the right form comes naturally when you order.
• 23 tickets, but 13 tickets:
  Dwadzieścia trzy bilety means “23 tickets”, but trzynaście biletów means “13 tickets”. When counting things like tickets, numbers ending in 2, 3 or 4 take a form such as bilety, unless the last two digits are 12, 13 or 14. This exception also applies to 112, 113 and 114. The number 21 takes biletów too. Counting groups of people involves additional rules, so this pattern does not apply unchanged.
• The same number can change form in a sentence:
  “It is eight o’clock” is Jest ósma, while “at eight o’clock” is o ósmej. Learn these expressions in pairs. The ending changes to fit the sentence; it does not indicate a different number.

• Telling the time and making plans:
  08:00 → Jest ósma. (It is eight o’clock.)
  07:30 → wpół do ósmej (half past seven)
  10:45 → za kwadrans jedenasta (quarter to eleven)
  14:20 → czternasta dwadzieścia (2:20 p.m.)
  To make plans: Spotkajmy się o ósmej. (Let’s meet at eight.) Unlike English “half past”, Polish wpół do refers to the next hour: halfway to eight means 7:30.
• Prices in złoty and grosz:
  1 złoty = 100 groszy.
  32,40 zł → trzydzieści dwa złote czterdzieści groszy
  17,80 zł → siedemnaście złotych osiemdziesiąt groszy
  Polish prices use a decimal comma, so 32,40 zł is 32.40 zł in English notation. At the checkout, you may hear the shorter trzydzieści dwa czterdzieści. Notice the change between złote and złotych: the number before the currency determines its form.
• Dates and years:
  “Today is 8 March” → Dzisiaj jest ósmy marca.
  “on 8 March” → ósmego marca
  “the year 2019” → rok dwa tysiące dziewiętnasty
  “in 2019” → w dwa tysiące dziewiętnastym roku
  “the year 2024” → rok dwa tysiące dwudziesty czwarty
  “in 2024” → w dwa tysiące dwudziestym czwartym roku
  Polish uses ordinal forms—the equivalent of “first”, “second” and so on—for the day and year. In both 2019 and 2024, dwa tysiące stays unchanged. In 2019, only the final number word changes its ending to fit the sentence. In 2024, both the tens and ones are ordinal forms, and both endings change.
• Ordering quantities:
  Poproszę trzy bułki. → Three bread rolls, please.
  Poproszę sześć bułek. → Six bread rolls, please.
  Poproszę dwie herbaty. → Two teas, please.
  Practise with things you actually order. Learn the noun forms too: bułki becomes bułek after six.
• Room numbers and sequences of digits:
  Room 308 → pokój numer trzysta osiem
  The digit sequence 7–0–2–9 → siedem – zero – dwa – dziewięć
  You can read codes or phone numbers digit by digit. If someone speaks too quickly, ask: Czy można powtórzyć wolniej? (Could you repeat that more slowly?)

• Three forms of “thousand” when counting:
  When reading out numbers in the thousands, you use three basic forms: tysiąc (1,000), tysiące as in trzy tysiące (3,000), and tysięcy as in osiem tysięcy (8,000). The number of thousands determines which one you need. In a sentence, grammatical case can introduce other forms, such as tysiąca, tysiącem or tysiącach.
• Informal words for money:
  In casual conversation, ten złoty may be called dycha or dyszka. A hundred złoty is sometimes stówa or stówka. These are informal shortcuts for amounts of money, much like “a tenner” for ten pounds in British English. You will mainly hear them in relaxed conversations.
• Spaces and decimal commas:
  Polish texts group large numbers with spaces: 38 750. A comma marks the decimal part: 38 750,62 is 38,750.62 in English notation. Expect this format on price tags and invoices.

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