Politeness in Polish

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Spoken language

In 19th-century books one could find sentences which were considered polite, and which were formed like normal sentences. What set them apart from ordinary sentences was using words like pan ‘sir’, pani ‘madam’, panowie (plural of ‘sir’), panie (plural of ‘madam’) and państwo.

The word ‘państwo’, apart from being a synonym of kraj ‘country/ state’, also means a group of people of both sexes (it's a pluralia tantum noun). If the people you mean are men, then you will simply use ‘panowie’, but if they are, for example, a man and a woman, then you need to use ‘państwo’. This word, depending on the intended meaning, has a different gender: the gender of ‘państwo-kraj’ is indicated by the ending - so its neuter (to państwo), ‘państwo-ludzie’ means a group of people - it is non-virile (ci państwo).

The 19th-century way of speaking would be impolite in modern Polish: nowadays, speaking to strangers (adults) or the elderly, you should use the verb in the third person even if the subject is the person you are speaking to (the second person). In non-emphatic sentences one often uses the subject after the verb.

Written language

Being polite in the written language is constrained to writing words referring to the addressee (and also to other people - or even institutions - particularly respected) in capital letters, eg:
Piszę do Ciebie, ponieważ… ‘I am writing to you, because…’
Proszę, powiedz Mamie, że przyjadę późno w nocy. ‘Please, tell mom, that I am going to arrive late at night.’

In polite Polish using conditionals is very common too.