Translate Excel formulas between English and Polish

An English tutorial uses IF, a Polish installation suggests JEŻELI, and pasting the example produces an error. Sometimes replacing the function name is enough. Longer formulas also require checking argument separators, decimal notation, quoted strings and the availability of the function in the target Excel version.

I translate a formula from its meaning. First I establish what it calculates and what inputs it expects. Then I adapt the notation. That helps avoid a formula that looks convincingly local but tests a different condition or silently turns a numerical result into text.

This guide combines a practical bilingual glossary with a procedure for translating complete formulas. It replaces an oversized historical table that mixed current functions, compatibility entries and incomplete descriptions. For less common names, consult the English Microsoft list and its Polish counterpart. Information was checked on 1 November 2026.

Common English and Polish function names

Use the table in either direction. Its brief descriptions identify the purpose of a function rather than its entire contract. Once you recognise a candidate, check the argument list and handling of empty cells in the individual reference before adapting a substantial report.

Some names, including MIN and MAX, stay the same. Others cannot be inferred by translating an English word literally. SUBSTITUTE maps to PODSTAW, while REPLACE maps to ZASTĄP. Both alter text, but their argument lists describe different operations.

This is a focused working glossary rather than a promise to catalogue every function in every Excel release. For a name outside it, compare the two official function pages and their syntax. That is a more dependable approach than choosing a similar sounding word and hoping the program accepts it.

Function language and separators are separate settings

The Polish examples here assume semicolons between arguments and a decimal comma. The English examples assume US notation, with argument commas and a decimal point. These are explicit example environments. The interface language alone does not define every regional setting.

Microsoft documents both desktop number separators and regional formats in Excel for the web. A workplace installation can therefore use a combination different from a tutorial’s assumptions.

A simple condition shows three separate adaptations:

=IF(A2>1.5,"high","low")
=JEŻELI(A2>1,5;"high";"low")

The function name changes, the decimal point becomes a comma, and the argument separators become semicolons. The returned strings remain high and low. Both versions are intended to produce the same labels from the same threshold. Localising those labels would be a separate reporting decision.

Do not globally replace every comma with a semicolon. A comma can be part of a decimal number or a quoted string, as well as an argument separator. More elaborate formulas add other syntactic contexts. Identify the role of a character before replacing it. Fast editing becomes expensive when it changes meaning without producing an obvious error.

Translate the structure of a nested formula

Suppose A2:A4 contains the synthetic numbers 10, 20 and 30. I want ok when their sum exceeds 50 and check otherwise. The total is 60, so the expected result is the text ok.

=IF(SUM(A2:A4)>50,"ok","check")
=JEŻELI(SUMA(A2:A4)>50;"ok";"check")

I identify the outer decision and the inner sum separately. The A2:A4 range stays unchanged. Its colon denotes a cell range, not a boundary between function arguments. Parentheses preserve the nesting and still need to balance after the names have changed.

For a longer expression, I temporarily separate stages into helper cells. Calculate the sum, inspect the comparison, then combine them. It becomes easier to tell whether an unexpected answer comes from a name, input type or reference. Microsoft’s function creation guide also describes argument prompts that help avoid typing mistakes.

The boundary condition belongs to the meaning too. When the total equals 50, these formulas return check, because they use > rather than >=. Translation does not justify changing the comparison operator. An incidental “improvement” can otherwise be blamed on language differences when it actually changes the business rule.

Keep strings, references and object names deliberate

Function names are recognised by Excel. Quoted text is data or a matching rule. If a source status column contains paid, changing the criterion to the Polish word opłacone can produce no matches. A Polish interface does not translate the content of your source table.

Sheet names refer to concrete workbook objects. A sheet named Sales should remain Sales in a reference unless the sheet itself has been renamed. The same applies to named ranges and table column names in structured references. They must match objects that actually exist in the workbook.

Keep reference anchoring deliberate as well. Translating IF does not call for changing $A$2 into A2. That edit changes behaviour when a formula is copied. I explain this in more detail in the guide to relative, absolute and mixed references.

A working formula inside a workbook and a text representation pasted into a message are also different situations. The examples here show notation for manual entry. When someone sends an existing workbook, inspect what the local application actually displays before deciding to rewrite its cells. Pasting a tutorial string is not evidence that every formula in a shared file needs manual translation.

TEXT introduces a format code of its own

Replacing TEXT with TEKST can leave another issue unresolved. Its second argument is a quoted string containing a format code. For a genuine date of 10 June 2024 in A2, these examples use different year codes:

=TEXT(A2,"yyyy-mm-dd")
=TEKST(A2;"rrrr-mm-dd")

Under the stated settings, both are intended to return 2024-06-10. Polish year codes use r, while English uses y. Hours may likewise use local codes such as gg:mm versus hh:mm. The custom number format guidance describes these components.

I do not treat the format string as an ordinary label that can be translated word by word. A practical method is to set the desired cell appearance, inspect its custom format code, and use that code in the function. The Polish TEXT reference describes this procedure.

The returned value is text. If you only need a different appearance for a date or amount, ordinary cell formatting can preserve the numerical value. I keep calculation inputs separate from presentation strings rather than converting an entire source column into labels for visual consistency.

This distinction matters when another person imports the report. A value that looks like a date may be a genuine date serial or a string. A translated formula can be syntactically correct while producing the wrong kind of output for the next step. State the intended type as part of the formula’s purpose.

An input string such as 04/05/2024 can also have an ambiguous day and month order. The example assumes a genuine date in the cell. Translating a formatting function cannot resolve which date an earlier import intended.

Similar names can have different argument orders

Translation requires the exact corresponding function. SUMIF begins with its criteria range and has an optional sum range as its third argument. SUMIFS starts with the sum range. Their Polish names, SUMA.JEŻELI and SUMA.WARUNKÓW, do not make their argument sequences interchangeable.

For lookups, inspect the match mode as well as the name. A formula using VLOOKUP to find an exact key should specify exact matching deliberately. Translating it to WYSZUKAJ.PIONOWO does not correct an omitted match mode or unsorted data in an approximate match example.

For text editing, distinguish position from content. REPLACE takes a starting position and character count. SUBSTITUTE identifies the text to replace and can target a particular occurrence. Both might be described casually as replacing a fragment, so I inspect the arguments before selecting the function name.

I also keep translation separate from replacing an older function with a newer alternative. A redesign may be sensible, but it changes the implementation and requires checking availability and results. A translation should preserve the operation unless an additional change has been consciously requested.

Excel version can be the real problem

A correct translated name cannot add a missing feature to an older release. Microsoft explicitly notes that XLOOKUP is unavailable in Excel 2016 and 2019. Renaming it to X.WYSZUKAJ cannot solve that compatibility issue.

Before choosing a solution, record the release, platform and whether the workbook must run in a browser. Version markers in the alphabetical index help, but the individual function page can add important qualifications. A broad list of products at the top of a page is not proof that every listed function works in each one.

Do not follow old instructions that recommend installing Functions Translator as a currently supported solution. The Microsoft notice says that the add-in is no longer available or supported. Historical screenshots can therefore describe an interface that you cannot reproduce today.

Search or an AI tool can suggest a candidate translation. I treat the candidate as a proposal, then check the official names, argument roles and expected results on simple cases. A useful workflow does not need a promise of completely automatic conversion to handle a few nested functions efficiently.

Diagnosing an error after pasting

If Excel rejects the entry immediately, I check separators, parentheses and quotation marks. Text copied from a formatted document can contain decorative quotation marks that only resemble formula delimiters. I then use the local function prompts rather than repeatedly pasting the same failing string.

For #NAME?, inspect spelling, feature availability and defined names. Microsoft’s error guide explains these causes and advises against hiding the syntax issue with error handling. Wrapping an unrecognised name in IFERROR does not repair the underlying formula.

If the expression is accepted but the result is wrong, return to the inputs. Check numbers stored as text, range boundaries and literal criteria. Compare a small case with an answer derived by hand. The original tutorial may itself contain a mistake; a different language is not automatically the cause.

I also ask whether a reference moved while the formula was copied. A wrong row can produce a perfectly plausible value. Language troubleshooting should not distract from ordinary spreadsheet checks, particularly when the example is being adapted to a workbook with a different layout.

A criterion example keeps the source labels unchanged

Suppose A2:A4 contains web, store, web, while B2:B4 contains 10, 20, 30. To sum values labelled web, the expected result is 40:

=SUMIF(A2:A4,"web",B2:B4)
=SUMA.JEŻELI(A2:A4;"web";B2:B4)

The criteria range comes first and the sum range last. Using the multiple criteria function for the same single condition changes the argument order:

=SUMIFS(B2:B4,A2:A4,"web")
=SUMA.WARUNKÓW(B2:B4;A2:A4;"web")

Here the sum range comes first. The SUMIF and SUMIFS references describe that distinction. The source label stays web throughout. Changing the first label to store should reduce the total from 40 to 30.

When sharing this example, include the column layout, intended output type and assumed settings. An address alone does not tell a colleague whether a range contains statuses, amounts or dates. Adapt the notation to the existing environment rather than requiring everyone to change their application settings for one example.

Exercise: preserve the threshold rule

Enter the numbers 10, 20 and 30 into A2:A4. Adapt the nested sum example to the local notation and write down the expected text ok. Then replace 30 with 20. The total becomes exactly 50, so the expected result is check.

Change that value again to 19. The answer remains check, now because the total is below the threshold. Together, the three cases cover above, equal to and below the boundary. Separately record the assumed separators and Excel version so a colleague can interpret the notation.

For the next translation, begin with the same question: what must stay true when the notation changes? Once that is explicit, a wrong range, translated data label or unavailable function becomes much easier to spot. The glossary then supports your reasoning instead of being the only check on a copied formula.