A skąd pan jest, jeśli można spytać?
And where are you from, if I may ask? (polite, Pani Kowalska)
In the story
Pani Kowalska
Dzień dobry. A skąd pan jest, jeśli można spytać?
Ooh, a shift in register! Pani Kowalska doesn't use the casual jesteś with Tom. She uses pan jest. Skąd pan jest. Literally, from where is the gentleman? It's the proper, formal way to ask a man where he's from.
And she adds a beautifully polite phrase at the end: jeśli można spytać. If it is possible to ask. If I may ask. Try just the main question with me, respectfully: A skąd pan jest, jeśli można spytać?
Learn it in the story
This phrase appears in the lesson:
Level pre-A1 · Lesson 5