• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “when else” or “at some other time,” this phrase means “another time,” “some other day,” or “not now.” It is a polite but vague way of postponing something without committing to a specific future date. Poles use it to defer plans, decline an invitation softly, or simply indicate that something will happen — just not at this moment.

  Vocabulary

  • kiedy — when
  • indziej — else / elsewhere / at another time

  Grammar note

  'Kiedy indziej' is a fixed adverbial phrase. 'Indziej' is an archaic-flavored adverb meaning 'elsewhere' or 'at another time,' surviving mainly in set expressions like this one and 'gdzie indziej' (somewhere else), 'co innego' (something else). It does not inflect. The phrase functions as a temporal adverb in a sentence.

  Cultural context

  This is a very common, completely neutral expression used in everyday Polish. It carries no negative connotation — it is simply a way to say 'not now, but maybe later.' It is equivalent to English 'some other time' or 'another day.' Poles often pair it with 'może' (maybe) for extra softness: 'może kiedy indziej' (maybe some other time).

  Beginner

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!