• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “to give expression.” It means to express, convey, or manifest a feeling, opinion, or attitude — to make something known openly. The phrase is formal and appears frequently in written Polish, speeches, and journalism. It is used when someone publicly voices an emotion or takes a stance: “dać wyraz niezadowoleniu” (to express dissatisfaction).

  Vocabulary

  • dać — to give (perfective)
  • wyraz — expression, word; here: expression (accusative of wyraz)
  • dawać wyraz — to express (imperfective version)

  Grammar note

  'Dać wyraz' is a verb-noun collocation. 'Wyraz' is in the accusative case (direct object of 'dać'). The feeling or thing being expressed follows in the dative: 'dać wyraz czemuś' (to give expression to something). The perfective 'dać' implies a single completed act of expression; the imperfective 'dawać wyraz' implies ongoing or habitual expression.

  Cultural context

  This is a formal, elevated phrase common in official statements, literary criticism, political speeches, and quality journalism. It is rarely used in casual conversation — in everyday speech Poles would simply say 'wyrazić' (to express) or 'pokazać' (to show). Recognizing it is important for reading Polish newspapers and formal texts.

  Intermediate

Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!