Polish › Phrases › Sorry in Polish
The quick answer: przepraszam (pshe-PRAH-shahm). It is sorry, excuse me and pardon? all at once. The opening prz is one sound — a psh — not three letters said quickly.
One word, three jobs
Przepraszam is the word. It looks impossible and it is not, and it does more work than any English equivalent.
1. Sorry. You did something — stepped on a foot, knocked a glass, arrived late.
2. Excuse me. Getting past someone on a tram, or stopping a stranger to ask the way. In Poland a question that does not start with przepraszam sounds abrupt, and this is the most common way visitors accidentally come across as rude.
3. Pardon? Said with a rising tone, it means you did not catch what was said.
💡 prz is one sound, not three letters. Do not try to say p-r-z. Start with the sh of “shoe”, put a p on the front, and let them run together: psh. The whole word is pshe-PRAH-shahm. Polish clusters look frightening on paper and almost always collapse into one gesture like this — there is more on our Polish sounds page.
Every way to apologise, and what to say back
| Polish | Say it like | What it means | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| przepraszam | pshe-PRAH-shahm | Sorry. Also excuse me. Also pardon? Three jobs, one word. | |
| przepraszam bardzo | pshe-PRAH-shahm BAR-dzoh | I’m very sorry. Turns the volume up. | |
| bardzo przepraszam | BAR-dzoh pshe-PRAH-shahm | Same words, other order — slightly more heartfelt. | |
| przykro mi | PSHIH-kroh mee | I’m sorry — but for you, not because of me. See below. | |
| bardzo mi przykro | BAR-dzoh mee PSHIH-kroh | I’m so sorry. What you say at a funeral. | |
| wybacz | VIH-bahch | Forgive me. Informal, to someone you are close to. | |
| wybacz mi | VIH-bahch mee | Forgive me — a little more weight. | |
| żałuję | zhah-WOO-yeh | I regret it. The ł is a w. | |
| to moja wina | toh MOY-ah VEE-nah | That’s my fault. Owning it plainly. | |
| przepraszam za spóźnienie | pshe-PRAH-shahm zah spoozh-NYEH-nyeh | Sorry I’m late. | |
| nic się nie stało | neets sheh nyeh STAH-woh | No harm done. What you say back. | |
| nie ma sprawy | nyeh mah SPRAH-vih | No problem. The easy reply. | |
| już dobrze | yoosh DOB-zheh | It’s fine now. Note the final ż going to a sh. | |
| w porządku | f poh-ZHOND-koo | It’s all right. The w hardens to an f. | |
| sorki | SOR-kee | Borrowed from English, and only between friends. |
The one distinction worth getting right
Przepraszam and przykro mi both come out as “I’m sorry” in English, and they are not interchangeable.
Przepraszam is an apology. It carries responsibility. I did this, and I am sorry for it.
Przykro mi is sympathy. Literally “it is painful to me”. It means something has happened and I feel for you — and it carries no admission of fault at all.
So at a wake you say bardzo mi przykro, and it would be strange to say przepraszam, which would sound as though the death were somehow your doing. Conversely, spilling wine on someone and saying przykro mi is a small masterpiece of not taking the blame. English hides this distinction inside one word; Polish keeps them apart, and Poles hear the difference immediately.
Saying it back
An apology in Polish expects an answer, and having one ready matters more than getting the apology itself elegant.
Nic się nie stało — nothing happened — is the warm, everyday reply. Nie ma sprawy, no matter, is the easy one. W porządku, all right, is the shortest. Już dobrze — it’s fine now — is what a parent says to a child who is still upset about it.
Any of them ends the exchange. Silence does not, and it reads as though the apology was not accepted.
Saying these out loud
prz and psz are both psh. Przepraszam is pshe-PRAH-shahm; przykro is PSHIH-kroh. The rz in the middle of a word after a voiceless sound comes out as sh rather than the usual zh.
ż at the end of a word goes to sh. Już is yoosh, not yoozh. Polish unvoices the last consonant of a word, which is the same rule that makes listopad end in a t.
w can be a v or an f. On its own in front of a voiceless sound it hardens: w porządku is f poh-ZHOND-koo. In front of a voiced one it stays: w lutym is v LOO-tim.
ą is a nasal on. Porządku has an on in the middle where the tail under the a is — poh-ZHOND-koo. Our Polish alphabet page has all nine of the extra letters, spoken.
You cannot apologise properly without pan and pani
Polish, like German, makes you choose a level of formality before you say anything at all — and it goes further than German does, because Polish uses the third person. You do not say “can you help me” to a stranger. You say, more or less, “could the gentleman help me”.
Pan is a man. Pani is a woman. Państwo is a mixed group. And these are not just titles — they are the word for you, and the verb follows them into the third person.
| Polish | Say it like | What it is | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| pan | pahn | Sir / Mr — and also the word for “you” to a man. | |
| pani | PAH-nee | Madam / Mrs — and “you” to a woman. | |
| państwo | PAHN-stfoh | You, to a mixed group. Also means “state”. | |
| Przepraszam pana | pshe-PRAH-shahm PAH-nah | Excuse me, sir. Note pan changing ending. | |
| Przepraszam panią | pshe-PRAH-shahm PAH-nyon | Excuse me, madam. | |
| Czy mógłby pan…? | chih MOOG-bih pahn | Could you…? To a man, formal. | |
| Czy mogłaby pani…? | chih moh-GWAH-bih PAH-nee | Could you…? To a woman, formal. | |
| dziękuję | jen-KOO-yeh | Thank you. The ę is a nasal en. | |
| proszę | PROH-sheh | Please — and you’re welcome, and here you are. |
So the apology changes shape. Przepraszam alone is fine and neutral. Adding the person makes it properly polite: przepraszam pana to a man, przepraszam panią to a woman — and yes, pan and pani take endings too, because everything in Polish does.
Stopping a stranger. The standard opener is Przepraszam pana… or Przepraszam panią… and then your question. Launching straight into the question with ty — the informal you — would be startling to anyone over about twenty-five.
When it relaxes. Among friends, family, and increasingly among younger people at work, it is ty and plain verbs. As in German, wait to be offered it: Możemy na ty? is the question, and it is usually the older person who asks.
Proszę, the other word doing five jobs
If przepraszam is the apology, proszę (PROH-sheh) is its partner, and it is every bit as overloaded as the German bitte.
It means please. It means you’re welcome, in answer to dziękuję. It means here you are when handing something over. It means pardon? with a rising tone. And proszę wejść means come in.
Learn przepraszam, proszę and dziękuję and you have the three words that carry almost all everyday Polish courtesy. There is more on the third of them on our thank you in Polish page.
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