An independent, free Polish course · updated 2026
Speak Polski started from a simple frustration: learning Polish as an adult is genuinely hard, and most of the free material online is either a scattered list of words with no structure, or a slick app that locks the useful half behind a paywall after a week. I wanted one place where a complete beginner could open lesson one, understand why Polish works the way it does, and keep going all the way to a confident intermediate level — without paying, without making an account, and without hitting a wall.
That is what this site is. It is a structured course of twenty-eight lessons that run from absolute zero (A0) to upper-intermediate (B2). It is built and maintained by one person who learns Polish alongside the people using it, which is why the explanations focus on the things that actually trip learners up rather than on grammar for its own sake.
Every lesson follows the same rhythm on purpose. You get a short, plain-English explanation of one idea — the gender of nouns, the past tense, verb aspect — followed by real example sentences you can listen to, a couple of quick comprehension checks, and then a practice stage where you produce the language yourself by typing, choosing, and building sentences. Each lesson also carries a short dialogue so you hear the grammar in a natural exchange, and ends with a recap test whose missed words are saved to a spaced-repetition review pile so they come back exactly when you are about to forget them.
The Polish itself is written and checked carefully. Audio is generated with your browser's Polish speech engine so that every word and phrase can be heard, not just read. Nothing about the method is magic: it is comprehensible input, spaced repetition, and enough active practice that the patterns stick. The whole path — greetings, the case system, tenses, aspect, participles, complex sentences — is laid out in order so you always know what comes next.
Alongside the lessons there are word games organised by topic, level tests that place you from A0 to B2, full reference tables for cases and conjugation, a verb conjugator, pronunciation practice that scores you out loud, a situational phrasebook, reading practice, and a set of quick-reference guides for everyday vocabulary such as animals, food, the weather, telling the time, colours, and family. Everything is designed to be used in any order: start with lesson one if you are new, or jump straight to the tables and games if you just need to drill something specific.
Speak Polski is free and intended to stay that way. It is supported by unobtrusive advertising and by readers who choose to leave a small tip, and that is the whole business model. There is no premium tier, no trial that expires, and no feature that is deliberately crippled to push you toward paying. Keeping it free means more people actually finish what they start, which was the point from the beginning.
Language courses are never finished, and a one-person project makes mistakes. If you spot an error in a translation, an audio clip, or an explanation — or if there is a topic you wish existed — I genuinely want to hear about it. The fastest way to reach me is by email at contact@speakpolski.com, or through the contact page. Real feedback from real learners is what has shaped this site, and it is what keeps making it better.
Thanks for being here — and powodzenia (good luck) with your Polish.