Learn Polish for Ukrainian speakers
Polish stories at your level with one-tap Ukrainian translations. The fastest bridge to functional Polish — built for the million Ukrainians who already live in PL.
Free to start · no card · your first story in 10 seconds
What Ukrainian speakers already know
Ukrainian gives you the deepest head start of any language into Polish — closer than Russian. Both descend from Old East Slavic, share a huge core vocabulary (хата/chata, дякую/dziękuję, місто/miasto, річ/rzecz), and have parallel grammar (seven cases, perfective/imperfective aspect, three genders). The main practical hurdle isn't the language itself — it's swapping Cyrillic reading reflexes for the Latin alphabet with Polish digraphs.
The friction points
- The Latin alphabet with sz/cz/rz digraphs and ł/ą/ę/ć/ś/ź/ż needs ~10 hours of reading practice before the eye stops stalling.
- Polish stress is fixed on the second-to-last syllable; Ukrainian stress is mobile and unpredictable — same word can feel foreign just from prosody.
- Polish has more consonant clusters than Ukrainian (źdźbło, wstrząs, chrząszcz) — readable but pronounceable only after exposure.
- Several common cognates have different gender or different case patterns than Ukrainian, which trips up speech more than understanding.
False friends to know first
Words that look familiar but mean something else. The first ones to learn so you don't embarrass yourself.
What Polish looks like in Newt
Generated by Newt at the level you set. Tap any word for an instant Ukrainian translation, definition, and pronunciation — no leaving the page.
Ukraińcy bardzo szybko uczą się polskiego, bo języki są podobne.
Українці дуже швидко вчаться польської, бо мови схожі.
Almost every word here has a transparent Ukrainian equivalent — uczą się / вчаться, podobne / схожі.
Wczoraj kupiłem chleb w sklepie obok dworca.
Вчора я купив хліб у магазині біля вокзалу.
Sklep is the most-tripped false friend; here it just means shop.
Why Ukrainian speakers pick up Polish
Ukrainians are now the single largest learner cohort of Polish in the world — over a million live in Poland, working, studying, and raising kids. The first six months in Warsaw or Kraków get you to "I can survive"; reading is what gets you from there to "I can sign a lease, read a contract, do a job interview." That gap is the entire reason this app exists in Polish.
Read → tap → save → repeat
- Tell Newt what you care aboutPick a topic (cycling, history, coffee, indie games — anything). Newt writes you a short Polish story around it at your level.
- Tap any word for instant translationTap a word — Newt shows the Ukrainian translation, definition, and pronunciation in a popup. No page-switching.
- Save the ones you don't know yetSaved words land in your vocabulary list with the sentence you met them in — context comes free.
- Newt reuses them in your next storyEach new story tries to fold in 2-3 words you recently saved, so you meet them again in fresh context. That's how vocabulary actually sticks.
- Spaced repetition catches what slippedA short daily review session brings back words the algorithm thinks you're about to forget. Same idea as Anki, except you never had to build the deck.
Common questions
How is this different from Duolingo for Polish?
Duolingo teaches isolated phrases in a fixed curriculum. Newt generates short stories from topics you actually care about, at your current level, with every word tappable for an instant Ukrainian translation. Words you save come back automatically in future stories — that's the part that makes vocabulary stick.
How is this different from asking ChatGPT to write me a Polish text?
ChatGPT can write you a story, but it forgets everything between sessions. It doesn't know which words you already learned, doesn't space them out for review, and doesn't quietly weave your saved words into the next story. Newt does all of that — it's a closed loop, not a one-shot prompt.
What level of Polish do I need to start?
Any. Newt supports A1 (complete beginner) through C1 (advanced). At A1 you'll get short, very simple texts with high-frequency vocabulary; at B2+ you'll get nuanced articles and stories. The system calibrates as you tap and save words.
Is it free?
Yes — there's a free plan with 3 fresh AI texts every day, no card required to sign up. Premium lifts the daily cap and lets you study multiple languages at once; you can upgrade anytime.
How long until I can read a real book in Polish?
Realistic timeline for Ukrainian speakers: 4-8 months of consistent daily reading (15-30 min) to read a young-adult novel comfortably, 12+ months to read literary fiction. The single biggest predictor is hours of input — Newt's job is to make those hours easy to start.
Start reading Polish tonight
Pick a topic, your first story lands in 10 seconds. Free to start, no card.