Polish to English examples

Chcę szybko nauczyć się angielskiego.

→ I want to learn English quickly.

Polish reflexive 'się' is required with 'nauczyć' (learn). English does not use reflexive pronouns with 'learn'. The basic SVO structure is similar.

Uczę się angielskiego od trzech lat.

→ I have been learning English for three years.

Polish uses the imperfective aspect present tense with 'od' for ongoing duration. English uses the present perfect continuous — the verb form itself signals the duration from past to present.

Czy mógłby Pan/Pani mówić wolniej?

→ Could you speak more slowly?

Polish formal address distinguishes 'Pan' (sir/Mr) and 'Pani' (ma'am/Mrs) where English uses 'you' for everyone. The auxiliary 'could' is similar in function to Polish 'mógłby'.

Gdybym więcej się uczył, zdałbym egzamin.

→ If I had studied more, I would have passed the exam.

Polish uses the conditional mood with '-by' suffix. The past counterfactual maps closely to the English third conditional — both express regret about an unrealised past.

Angielski jest bardzo ważnym językiem.

→ English is a very important language.

Polish uses instrumental case for the predicate — 'językiem' (language-INSTR). English uses the nominative with an article 'a'. Polish speakers often forget the article here.