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Home in Polish

My Home in Polish: Rooms, Furniture, and jest/są

The locative just moved in with you. This lesson furnishes it: rooms, furniture, and the pattern for saying what stands where — the same one every Polish flat listing uses.

The Rooms

Polish
pokój
English
room
In the…
w pokoju
Polish
kuchnia
English
kitchen
In the…
w kuchni
Polish
łazienka
English
bathroom
In the…
w łazience
Polish
sypialnia
English
bedroom
In the…
w sypialni
Polish
salon
English
living room
In the…
w salonie

The Furniture

stół (table), krzesło (chair), łóżko (bed), szafa (wardrobe), lampa (lamp), telewizor (TV). All describable with the adjectives you own: duży stół, mała lampa, nowe łóżko.

Mam małe mieszkanie, ale duży telewizor.

I have a small flat but a big TV.

Note: Priorities. Note the agreement: małe mieszkanie (n), duży telewizor (m).

What's Where: jest and są

One thing there: jest. Several: . That's the whole rule — and with a locative in front, it builds every room description in the language.

Polish
W kuchni jest stół.
English
There's a table in the kitchen.
Polish
W pokoju są dwa okna.
English
There are two windows in the room.
Polish
W salonie jest telewizor i szafa.
English
There's a TV and a wardrobe in the living room.
Ola

Jak wygląda twoje nowe mieszkanie?

What's your new flat like?

Tom

Małe! W pokoju jest łóżko, stół i krzesło.

Small! In the room there's a bed, a table and a chair.

Ola

A kuchnia?

And the kitchen?

Tom

Kuchnia to legenda. Nie ma kuchni.

The kitchen is a legend. There is no kitchen.

Common Mistakes

  • jest for plurals. Two windows need są: są dwa okna.
  • Forgetting the locative. W kuchnia jest… — no. w kuchni.
  • salon ≠ salon. It's the living room, not a hairdresser's (that's salon fryzjerski).

What You Can Do Now

You can describe your home room by room, read flat listings, and complain accurately about the size of the kitchen — a rite of passage in any language.