Polish Verb Basics: A Quick Overview

Polish verbs are highly inflected, meaning their endings change based on several grammatical categories. This tool provides conjugations for a few common example verbs.

1. Person and Number:

Like many languages, Polish verbs change to agree with the person (who is performing the action) and number (singular or plural).

• Singular:
  • 1st person (ja) - I
  • 2nd person (ty) - you (singular, informal)
  • 3rd person (on/ona/ono) - he/she/it
• Plural:
  • 1st person (my) - we
  • 2nd person (wy) - you (plural or singular formal)
  • 3rd person (oni/one) - they (oni for groups including at least one man or all men; one for groups of women, children, animals, and inanimate objects)

2. Tenses (Czasy):

• Present Tense (Czas teraźniejszy): Describes actions happening now or habitual actions. Polish has only one present tense form for both imperfective and (rarely used for habitual) perfective verbs.
• Past Tense (Czas przeszły): Describes actions that happened in the past. Polish past tense forms are **gendered**. They change based on the gender of the subject (masculine (m.), feminine (f.), neuter (n.) in singular; virile (męskoosobowy - for masculine-personal plural) and non-virile (niemęskoosobowy - for all other plurals) in the plural).
• Future Tense (Czas przyszły):
  • For **Imperfective verbs** (actions that are ongoing, repeated, or incomplete): The future tense is usually **compound**. It's formed with the future tense of "być" (to be) + either the infinitive of the main verb OR the past tense l-form (gendered participle) of the main verb. (e.g., "będę czytać" or "będę czytał/czytała" - I will be reading / I will read [habitually]).
  • For **Perfective verbs** (actions that are completed or have a definite endpoint): The future tense is **simple** and uses a single conjugated form of the perfective verb, which often resembles present tense forms of other verbs. (e.g., "przeczytam" - I will read [and finish it]).

3. Moods (Tryby):

• Conditional Mood (Tryb przypuszczający): Expresses hypothetical actions, wishes, or conditions (e.g., "I would do"). Often involves adding a particle like "-by" to past tense forms. (This tool may show simplified forms).
• Imperative Mood (Tryb rozkazujący): Used for commands or requests (e.g., "Do it!", "Read!").

4. Aspect (Aspekt):

This is a fundamental concept in Polish. Most Polish verbs come in **imperfective (niedokonany)** and **perfective (dokonany)** pairs.

• Imperfective Aspect: Denotes an action that is ongoing, repeated, habitual, or incomplete. (e.g., czytać - to read, to be reading).
• Perfective Aspect: Denotes an action that is completed, has a definite result, or is a single instance. (e.g., przeczytać - to read [and finish], to have read).

The choice of aspect affects tense formation (especially future) and meaning.

This tool provides conjugation tables for a limited set of example verbs. Polish verb conjugation has many patterns and irregularities. For comprehensive learning, consult Polish grammar books and dedicated language resources.