Counting in Polish

Language overview

Polish (język polski, polszczyzna) is a west slavic language from the Indo-European family. Official language in Poland, it is also spoken in Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. The Polish language counts about 43 million speakers.

Polish numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

• Digits from zero to nine are rendered by specific words, namely zero [0], jeden [1], dwa [2], trzy [3], cztery [4], pięć [5], sześć [6], siedem [7], osiem [8], and dziewięć [9].
• If regular counting uses the masculine form, digits change according to the gender: feminine (jedna [1], dwie [2]), neuter (jedno [1]), masculine personal (dwaj or dwóch [2], trzej or trzech [3], czterej or czterech [4]), and collective (dwoje [2], troje [3], czworo [4], pięcioro [5]…).
• Tens are formed by stating the multiplier digit before a variation of the word for ten (dziesięć, dzieścia, dzieści or dziesiąt), except for ten itself: dziesięć [10], dwadzieścia [20], trzydzieści [30], czterdzieści [40], pięćdziesiąt [50], sześćdziesiąt [60], siedemdziesiąt [70], osiemdziesiąt [80], and dziewięćdziesiąt [90].
• Teens are formed by starting with the unit, directly followed by naście, from na (and) and dziesięć (ten): jedenaście [11] (literally, one and ten), dwanaście [12], trzynaście [13], czternaście [14], piętnaście [15], szesnaście [16], siedemnaście [17], osiemnaście [18], and dziewiętnaście [19].
• Compound numbers above twenty are formed by starting with the ten, then the unit separated with a space (e.g.: dwadzieścia jeden [21], pięćdziesiąt trzy [53]).
• Hundreds are formed by stating the multiplier digit before a form of the word for hundred (ście, sta or set) with no space, except for one hundred: sto [100], dwieście [200], trzysta [300], czterysta [400], pięćset [500], sześćset [600], siedemset [700], osiemset [800], and dziewięćset [900].
• Thousands are formed by stating the multiplier digit before a form of the word for thousand (tysiąc, tysiące or tysięcy) separated with a space, except for one thousand: 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], and dziewięć tysięcy [9,000].
• The Polish language uses the long scale naming convention. The words for big numbers are: milion (million, 10⁶), miliard (billion, 10⁹), bilion (trillion, 10¹²), biliard (quadrillion, 10¹⁵), trylion (quintillion, 10¹⁸), tryliard (sextillion, 10²¹), kwadrylion (septillion, 10²⁴)…

Write a number in full in Polish

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Polish. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.

Books

West Slavic languages

Czech, Lower Sorbian, Polish, Slovak, and Upper Sorbian.

Other supported languages

As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.