• Listen

  What it means

  Literally: “What is heard?” This is one of the most common informal greetings in Polish, used in the same way as “What’s up?” or “How are things?” It asks what news or developments there might be in someone’s life since you last spoke. For example, meeting a friend and asking “Co słychać?” invites them to share anything new or noteworthy. It is warmer and more conversational than the formal “Jak się pan/pani ma?”

  Vocabulary

  • co — what
  • słychać — to be heard, audible (impersonal verb form)

  Grammar note

  „Słychać" is an impersonal verb form — it has no grammatical subject and cannot be inflected for person or number. The question word „co" acts as the complement of what is heard. In response, Poles often mirror the structure: „U mnie słychać dobrze" (Things are going well for me) or simply „Nic nowego" (Nothing new).

  Cultural context

  Very common informal register, used among friends, colleagues, and acquaintances across all generations. The English equivalents are "What's up?", "How are things?", or "What's new?" Answering with "wszystko po staremu" (same as always) or "nic nowego" (nothing new) is perfectly natural and expected.

  Beginner

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