The paper presents successive dialect classifications of the Polish language together with the history of dialectology in Poland and the principal advances made in this field. The methodologies of different dialect classifications are discussed, too. The article begins with an overview of the history of the Polish language, which is followed by a presentation of the classifications of Polish dialects and subdialects elaborated by: Kazimierz Nitsch, Stanisław Urbańczyk, Karol Dejna, Marian Kucała and Halina Karaś. In the final part of the paper, the main characteristics of Polish dialects are presented. The aim of the paper is to offer non-Polish-speaking readers essential information related to this topic.