GOŚĆ W DOM, BÓG W DOMU (Guest at home, God at home), or how to offer something to drink in Polish?

What question do you hear when you step across the threshold of a Polish home? And what question should you ask when a Pole (and not only a Pole) comes to visit you? Most participants of courses of Polish will answer without hesitation: co słychać? (how is it going?) Indeed, it is one of the first questions we learn in Polish class but it is soon followed by the one we are going to focus on today.

COŚ DO PICIA? (Anything to drink?) or CZEGO SIĘ NAPIJESZ (What would you like to drink?)?  - TWO IMPORTANT POLISH QUESTIONS

                        And you? What would you like to drink? More Polish vocabulary on our FB page

Asking one of the two questions would seem natural. However, you need to know how important they are in the Polish culture. First of all, not asking one of them is considered most rude. Secondly, once it has been asked, you need to get ready for a mini-dialogue such as this one:

 - Coś do picia?
 - Nie, dziękuję. 
 - Jesteś pewien/ pewna? 
 - Hm... No, dobrze. Może kawę?  

- Anything to drink?
- No, thank you.
- Are you sure?
- Well... OK. Coffee then?

That is:  question – negative answer – question repeated – positive answer. Obviously, not every conversation of this kind looks exactly like that. You might hear a positive answer right away. However, it does happen that  a foreigner, after receiving a negative response, ends the conversation, leaving his Polish interlocutor in amazement and without a drink.

As you can see, it is a good idea not only to get acquainted with basic Polish structures but also to find out how and when to use them.