Learn Polish: Numbers 1–20

Mastering the numbers from one to twenty is a fundamental step in your Polish language journey. These essential words allow you to navigate daily life, from checking prices at a market to telling someone your age or exchanging phone numbers. This lesson focuses on the base digits and the unique structure of the teen numbers, providing the foundation you need to eventually count into the hundreds and thousands.

One of the most helpful patterns to recognize is the suffix used for numbers eleven through nineteen. Much like the English teen, Polish uses the ending naście. You can see this clearly in Jeden ([yɛ-dɛn]) for one and its counterpart Jedenaście ([yɛ-dɛ-nash-tshe]) for eleven, or Cztery ([chtɛ-rɨ]) for four and Czternaście ([chtɛr-nash-tshe]) for fourteen. While the root word sometimes undergoes a slight spelling change to accommodate the suffix, the connection remains visible.

Pronunciation is also key when practicing these numbers. Polish features many soft consonants and nasal sounds, such as in Pięć ([pyɛɲtsh]) for five and Dziesięć ([dzyɛ-shyɛɲtsh]) for ten. As you reach the end of this list with Dwadzieścia ([dva-dzyɛsh-tsha]) for twenty, you will notice the pattern shifts again. By focusing on these first twenty words, you are training your ear to hear the rhythmic structure of the Polish numerical system, which will make learning larger figures much more intuitive.