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Telling the time in Polish

Ask the time and say the hour, plus the parts of the day. Tap a row to hear it.

Telling the time is a small skill that unlocks a huge amount of everyday Polish: catching trains, making plans, ordering at the right hour, and understanding opening times. The question to memorise first is Która godzina? — “What time is it?” The answer almost always starts with Jest… (“It is…”) followed by the hour, for example Jest pierwsza (it's one o'clock) or Jest druga (it's two).

Here is the detail that surprises most beginners: the hours are feminine. That is because the word godzina (hour) is quietly understood behind every number, so you use feminine ordinal numbers rather than the plain counting numbers. “One o'clock” isn't jeden but pierwsza (literally “the first”), two is druga, three is trzecia, and so on. It feels odd at first, but there is a logic to it, and after a few repetitions the feminine endings start to sound right.

To say at a particular time — the version you need for appointments and timetables — Polish switches to a different form using the preposition o: o piątej (at five), o ósmej (at eight). So a sentence like “the film is at eight” becomes film jest o ósmej. Poland also uses the 24-hour clock in most official contexts — timetables, TV listings, shop signs — so it is normal to hear “fifteen” (piętnasta) for 3 p.m., something worth getting used to alongside the twelve-hour forms below.

The second table covers the parts of the day — rano (morning), popołudnie (afternoon), wieczór (evening), noc (night) — which let you be less precise when you don't need an exact hour. Tap each row to hear it, say it back, and try reading the current time out loud in Polish a few times a day; that tiny habit turns this from a list you memorised into something you can actually produce on the spot.

The hours — godziny

Parts of the day — pory dnia

Keep going

Practise with the numbers first, then My Vocabulary. Related guides: days & months, weather.