What does "czy" mean?

So I am learning out of a book and my dad is teaching me at the same time. Im not quite sure what "czy" means. The book says that its a question marker but no idea.

ie. Czy to jest pan Novalski?

Czy to jest żona pan Jacek? Czy to jest bardzo stara ale bardzo ładna?

Those are just a couple of sentences that I put together to demonstrate my understanding of "czy" As you can see, I probably cant use any grammer to save my life but Im trying very hard. I think those sentences are right but please let me know if they are not.

Dziękuję,
ALEX

If you're tryiong to say: Is it very old or very pretty, then ale should be czy.
Otherwise, you might be right, but I am a simple beginner (how long have I been saying that?)

What?

Sorry - I edited my answer back in. I got all confused!
You may wish to use the edit feature yourself! edir: I'm always editing! I'm not having a dig - just now I've answered the post with just the word 'What?' may look a little out of place!

I'd hope some real Polish speakers might get involved here - don't listen to me, I'm a donkey.

I'm not sure about Czy to jest żona... either.

Czy can mean sth close to 'is' in this sense but, generally, it means whether. It can also mean sth like 'or', e.g tak czy nie? It can also mean 'does'. I'd have to write a short story to explain its varied use

correct
Czy to jest zona pana Jacka?

this sentence is incomplete since it's missing a subject,therefore it is not grammatically correct.

Nowalski maybe

Someone help me out too, please.

Czy tamta jest żona pan Jacek?

What form should Mr. Jacek's name or the wife-word take?

Czy tamta kobieta, to zona pana Jacka? would be correct

Is that woman over there Mr Jacek's wife?

Żona to be more precise but I'm not sure if the creator of the poster is looking for that. Don't want to sound pedantic

if i m wrong please correct me i m also student of polish...

czy to jest pan kowalski?--is this pan kowalski?
do?does?is?are?has?have?was?were?....

czy wiesz?do you know?
czy masz długopis?do you have pencil?
czy widzialeś?did you see?

biały czy czarny?(biały lub/albo czarny?) white or black?
nie wiem który powinienem wybrać biały czy czarny?i dont know which one should i choose white or black..

if you want to ask the simple question:
Is this/that Mr. Jacek's wife? / Is she Mr. Jacek's wife?
then:
Czy to jest żona pana Jacka? / Czy ona jest żoną pana Jacka?

czy - simply put, serves to form a question whereas in Egnlish you use only subject-verb inversion (she is, is she? he has done, has he done?), without any special adverbs (where, who, what, when, why etc.), If you have a problem with using "czy" think of an English question transformed that way (to indirect question)

Is she coming?
I don't know whether/if she's coming.

so "czy" corresponds to "whether/if" in composed sentences.


EDITED

Good posting Kris, it's like an auxiliary (czasownik posiłkowy)

Basically, in this context, it starts a sentence to ask a question

No, I would have thought that the Polish word czy is more or less the same thing as est-ce-que in French meaning in effect, 'is it that...?' Czy begins most sentences unless inversion takes place or you say the same sentence in the same order and use a different tone to create the question.

I believe the word 'czy' is used to alert the listener that a question is being asked. For instance, if I was to say, "Isn't the sky blue", the listener wouldn't know if I'm merely making a statement or asking a question.

Polish "czy" is used when asking whether some thing will occur or not. There isn't a direct equivalent of the word in English since English uses syntax and (sometimes) auxilary words to construct questions, but some examples may explain this a little more.

Do you like sex? Czy lubisz seks?
Are you having dinner? Czy jesz obiad"
Is he taking a nap? Czy on drzemie?
Will it do? Czy to wystarczy?
Has he had dinner yet? Czy on juz zjadl obiad?

It should be also noted than questions starting with the word "czy" can be answered with Yes or No.

'Tak' albo 'Nie'... or 'Może tak, może nie' as I often have to say in repsonse.
Perhaps even 'No' - the Polish one, not the English one.
Must learn how to say 'It depends on...'

Zależy od

Zależy od osioł jest tutaj (czy nie)?
Like that?

Please tell me in English, donkey

Zależy, czy osioł jest tutaj

Zależy od osła

It depends whether they donkey's here or not.

OK, zależy, czy osioł jest tutaj czy nie.

who even asks? Isn't it obvious

It is obvious - Polish-speaking Giant Pandas.

Rawr! :P

The thread is spicing up. (Czy) jest dobrze czy nie? Tak, i całe szczęście

Also, be careful not to mix up the Polish word czy and czyli meaning 'that is to say'.

that's an example (somehow neglected so far in this thread) that the word "czy" can be skipped (quite often, in fact) and the sentence looks like an affirmative statement, but the question is represented by the question mark (in written) and by the intonation (in speech), for example:

Byłeś w szkole. - You were at school.
Byłeś w szkole? - Have you been at school? [Were you at school?]
Czy byłeś w szkole? - Have you been at school? [Were you at school?]
in composed sentences the "czy" has to appear:
Spytałem nauczycielkę, czy byłeś w szkole. (I asked your teacher whether/if you had been at school)

Tricky, since in Polish there is "czy li" which would be prefectly OK to use in a question instead of "czy" alone. "czy li" is not the same as "czyli"