Dalej

Dalej is a common Polish adverb with several related meanings. The core sense is spatial and temporal progression: it indicates moving forward, continuing, or reaching beyond a point. Examples include dalej od miasta, meaning “further away from the city,” and a road that goes dalej, meaning it continues ahead.

In everyday speech dalej can also serve as a discourse marker to signal continuation of a narrative, instruction, or sequence. It can function as a standalone interjection meaning “Go on!” or “Keep going!” in contexts such as giving encouragement or prompting someone to proceed.

Etymology and related forms: the word stems from a root meaning “far” in Old Polish (dal-), and is cognate with similar Slavic forms such as Russian dal’she (дальше). The form evolved into the current adverbial expression used in various syntactic positions.

Pronunciation: in Polish, dalej is pronounced roughly as DAH-lej, with the stress typically on the first syllable. A common phonetic rendering is /ˈdalɛj/.

Usage notes: dalej combines naturally with prepositional phrases to express distance, as in dalej od (further away from). It is used in questions and imperatives to convey progression or continuation. In translation, it is often rendered as “further,” “more,” or “ahead,” depending on the context.

See also: cognates in other Slavic languages reflect the same core idea of distance or progression, such as Russian даль (dal) and dal’she (дальше).