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 Present tense in the Polish language

Present tense of verbs (czas teraźniejszy czasowników)

The present tense in Polish refers, as well as in English and German languages, to the activity being held in current time. Most Polish verbs end with -ć (-ać/-eć/-ić/-yć), for example:
  • kochać (love)
  • czekać (wait)
  • czytać (read)
  • mieszkać (live)
  • mówić (talk)
  • życzyć (wish)
  • myśleć (think)
There are also few verbs ending with -c, -ść, -źć:
  • biec (run)
  • iść (walk)
  • jeść (eat)
  • nieść (carry)
  • wieźć (transport)
All verbs in Polish grammar are subject to conjugation  they are inflected by grammatical persons. In different situations verbs use different conjugation rules. The same final form of the verb is not always tantamount with belonging to the conjugacy group and numerous exceptions occur even within the same conjugation group. Because of this following conjugation groups are recognized:

Conjugation -a

The main feature of the first conjugation group is appearing of the a letter at the ending of each conjugated form, most verbs ending with -ać like kochać (love), czekać (wait), czytać (read) are inflected according to rules of this group. Inflection of these verbs is in general quite straightforward and does not cover any phonetic changes. kochać (love) / mieszkać (live)
I ja kocham / mieszkam
you ty kochasz / mieszkasz
he on kocha / mieszka
she ona kocha / mieszka
it ono kocha / mieszka
we my kochamy / mieszkamy
you wy kochacie / mieszkacie
they oni, one kochają / mieszkają
Personal pronouns (ja, ty, on, etc.) unlike English language, are in general not used in most conjugation forms because conjugation endings of the verbs in Polishs are very unique. That means that each grammatical person has its own ending specific only for itself and therefore unique. Example:
  1. Czytam dużo książek niemieckojęzycznych. I read many books in German language.

Conjugation -a endings

Ja -am My -amy
Ty -asz Wy -acie
On, ona, ono -a Oni/one -ają

Conjugation -i/-y

This inflection schema includes most verbs ending with -ić or -yć like: kupić (buy), lubić (like), mówić (talk), dzwonić (ring/call), robić (make), as well as many verbs ending with -eć (myśleć – think, słyszeć – hear). The main feature of this conjugation is the appearance of i or y letters in the conjugation suffix, so this scheme applies mainly (but not only) to verbs whose infinitive ends with -ić / -yć . kupić – buy (conjugation -i)
Ja kupię My kupimy
Ty kupisz Wy kupicie
On, ona, ono kupi Oni/one kupią
liczyć – count (conjugation -y)
Ja liczę My liczymy
Ty liczysz Wy liczycie
On, ona, ono liczy Oni/one liczą
If you meet verbs with the -ić/-yć ending, you can immediately assign it to the the appropriate conjugation group, which is not possible for verbs ending in -eć. Both conjugations, -y and -i are possible in this case. Example: myśleć (think)
Ja myślę My myślimy
Ty myślisz Wy myślicie
On, ona, ono myśli Oni/one myślą
leżeć (lie)
Ja leżę My leżymy
Ty leżysz Wy leżycie
On, ona, ono leży Oni/one leżą

Conjugation -i/-y endings

Ja -ę My -imy / -ymy
Ty -isz / -ysz Wy -icie / -ycie
On, ona, ono -i / -y Oni/one -ą

Conjugation -e

This conjugation group covers mostly verbs that end with -ować/-awać, as well as many verbs ending with -eć and -ać that do not belong to the conjugation -a and -i/-y groups, like kaszleć (cough) and rozumieć (understand). This inflection schema contains vowel or consonant change in each grammatical person as well as numerous exceptions. Within that scheme there are possible two endings for the first person singular and third plural. Please refer to following examples: pracować (work) / umieć (can)
Ja pracuję / umiem My pracujemy / umiemy
Ty pracujesz / umiesz Wy pracujecie / umiecie
On, ona, ono pracuje /umie Oni/one pracują / umieją

Conjugation -e endings

Ja -ę / em* My -emy
Ty -esz Wy -ecie
On, ona, ono -e Oni/one -ą / eją*
Because the conjugation -e is probably the most difficult conjugation you’ve ever heard about, it is impossible to describe it in few words.

Special conjugation

The term Sonderkonjugation many common verbs that are unique to any of the above group hide (More details about this with these and other examples can be found in Chapter conjugation of verbs Special Features). . The main verbs in the so-called Sonderkonjugation are: This conjugation called special covers many common verbs that do not belong to any of the groups described above (detailed information about this with these and other examples can be found in the chapter Conjugation of Polish verbs, refer to Particularities section). Most common verbs in the so-called special conjugation are:
  • być (be)
  • wiedzieć (know)
  • mieć (have)
być (be)
Ja jestem My jesteśmy
Ty jesteś Wy jesteście
On, ona, ono jest Oni/one są
mieć (have) / wiedzieć (know)
Ja mam / wiem My mamy / wiemy
Ty masz / wiesz Wy macie / wiecie
On, ona, ono ma / wie Oni/one mają / wiedzą
The conjugation of Polish verbs often creates lot of problem for learners due to numerous exceptions and vowel-consonant changes. In most cases the only solution to these problem is to master the complicated grammatical phenomenon and to learn the individual verbs within the appropriate conjugation group. The indication of the day of the week uses accusative form + “w / we”
Kiedy się spotkamy? When will we met?
w (przyszły/następny) poniedziałek on (next / previous) Monday
we (w przyszły) wtorek on Tuesday
w (przyszłą) środę on Wednesday
w czwartek on Thursday
w piątek on Friday
w sobotę on Saturday
w niedzielę on Sunday
w (przyszły) weekend next weekend

Scheduling with date

The indication of the month follows the same rule, with the difference that the indication of the month require the locative. That means that all months will receive the -u ending.
Kiedy? When?
w styczniu in January
w lutym in February
w marcu in March
w kwietniu in April
w maju in May
w czerwcu in June
w lipcu in July
w sierpniu in August
we wrześniu in September
w październiku in October
w listopadzie in November
w grudniu in December

Other important phrases

a week ago tydzień temu
a month ago miesiąc temu
a year ago rok temu
two years ago dwa lata temu
last week w zeszłym tygodniu
last year w zeszłym roku
last Saturday w ostatnią/zeszłą sobotę
last weekend w ostatni/zeszły weekend
now teraz
soon zaraz
immediately natychmiast
always zawsze
often często
sometimes czasami
rarely rzadko
never nigdy
today dziś / dzisiaj
tomorrow jutro
day after tomorrow pojutrze
yesterday wczoraj
day before yesterday przedwczoraj
recently niedawno
lately ostatnio
a long time ago dawno temu

Seasons & times of the day

There are usually two options to specify the seasons:
  1. 1) Use the preposition “w” / “na” + the locative / accusative / genitive
  2. 2) Omit the preposition + instrumental
w zimie in winter zimą
w lecie in summer latem
na jesień in autumn jesienią
na wiosnę in spring wiosną
There are several possibilities available, similar to the times of the day:
rano/ranem in the morning
przed południem before noon
w południe at high noon
po południu afternoon
na wieczór/ wieczorem in the evening
w nocy/nocą at night
o północy at midnight
Unspecified time of the day is described using the prepositions “nad“, “pod“, “około” or “jakoś” (colloquial speech). For example:
nad ranem towards morning
jakoś przed południem before noon
około południa around noon
jakoś po południu roughly afternoon
pod wieczór/około wieczora about evening
około północy about midnight
It is difficult in this situations to express a general rule, as the emphasis is put on the specific usage.

Birth date

The question about the date of birth is: Kiedy się urodziłaś/łeś? (When were you born?) and the answer is for example:
    • 30.12.1978 – trzydziestego grudnia tysiąc dziewięćset siedemdziesiątego ósmego (roku)
(on the thirtieth of December 1978)
  • 07.09.1981 – siódmego września tysiąc dziewięćset osiemdziesiątego pierwszego (roku)
  • 15.11. 2001 – piętnastego listopada dwa tysiące pierwszego (roku)
  • … and so on
Examples presented above clearly show that during specifying the birthday date all ordinals must be declined in the genitive. Thousands and hundreds remain in the same (nominative) form, namely in the form of cardinal numbers, not ordinals.

Clock time – czas zegarowy

In the Polish language, as well as in German, one can use the official (1-24) and unofficial (0-12) time. The general question about time is: Która (jest) godzina? / What time is it? Usage of official time is almost the same as in English and German, with the difference that the hour and minutes with the ordinal are expressed with the cardinal numbers. First come the full hour, then minutes. Examples: Przepraszam, która godzina? / Excuse me, what time is it?
  • (jest) piętnasta (It’s fifteen hundred)
  • piąta trzydzieści (It’s five thirty – in the morning)
  • siedemnasta trzydzieści (It’s fifteen thirty)
  • trzynasta dwadzieścia (It’s thirteen twenty)
  • dziewiętnasta czterdzieści pięć (It’s nineteen forty five)
The examples above show clearly that the official time specified in the Polish language is fairly straightforward and similar to the German and English. Please notice the lack of the word clock / godzina. Usage of unofficial (private) time includes numbers from 0 to 12 and is also a mix of cardinal and ordinal numbers, which are also declined here (in the genitive case).
Która godzina?
  • (jest) trzecia (It’s three o’clock)
  • wpół do szóstej (half past five)
  • dwadzieścia po pierwszej (twenty past one)
  • za piętnaście ósma (fifteen to eight) or za kwadrans ósma / kwadrans do ósmej (a quarter to eight)
  • za pięć dziesiąta (nine fifty-five)
  • piętnaście po siódmej (seven fifteen)
  • kwadrans po siódmej (quarter after seven)
  • pięć po wpół do czwartej (five after half past three) or za dwadzieścia pięć czwarta (three thirty-five)
  • za dziesięć druga (ten to nine)
Unspecified time will be created using the prefix “około” with the corresponding time of the day. Example sentences:
Spotkamy się około piątej. We meet about five.
Przyjdź do nas około piętnastej. Come to us about fifteen.
Specific dates are created with the use of the time, however, they also require the addition of the preposition “o” with the question “o której (godzinie)” expressed, as in the following examples:
O której zaczyna się film? What time does the movie start?
O siedemnastej. At seventeen hundred.
O której się spotkamy? What time will we meet?
O osiemnastej. At eighteen hundred.
Dziś jest + trzeci (mianownik) + lutego (dopełniacz) + dwa tysiące piętnastego (dopełniacz) Today is + ordinal in nominative + month in genitive + year in genitive genitive
The rule above applies only when an indication of the month is present. While using solely ordinals for the day and month in the nominative, the year however usually is in the genitive form.

Polish Cases: The Nominative

Introduction

Nominative, called mianownik in the Polish language, is the first of the seven Polish cases. It describes people, objects and facts, and answers to the questions
  • kto? – who?
  • co? – what?
The nominative’s main function is the subject. Example sentences:
  1. Kto pomaga dziecku? Mama pomaga dziecku. (Who does help the kid? Mother helps the kid.)
  2. Co jest interesujące? Ta nowa książka jest bardzo interesująca. (What is interesting? This new book is very interesting.)
Questions of nominative: kto? (who?) and co? (what?)

Noun in nominative

Singular

Since there is no specific article in the Polish language, noun endings have an important role in the distinction of grammatical genders. Generally speaking, for all nominative singular nouns the basic rule is:
Nouns ending with consonant are masculine, with the vowel -a or -i feminine, and those ending with -o , -e or -um are neuters.

Plural

Many Polish nouns in their plural form have the endings –y, -i or –e. However, there are many exceptions and phonetic changes, especially for the masculine, so this is not a perfect rule and the proper plural form of many nouns has just to be memorized. Below we’ll will give you an overview of some possible forms and the process of their creation:

Masculine (rodzaj męski)

Plural endings Example Usage
-(i)e
  1. lekarz – lekarze (doctor – doctors)
  2. nauczyciel – nauczyciele (teacher – teachers)
  3. gołąb – gołębie* (pigeon – pigeons)
  4. klucz – klucze (key – keys)
 Masculine nous with the stem ending with soft consonants (-ć, -dź, -ś, -ń, -ź) as well as with -c, -dz, -cz, -dż, -sz, -ż, -rz, -l, -j.
-i
  1. student – studenci (student – students)
  2. śmieć – śmieci (litter)
  3. sąsiad – sąsiedzi* (neighbour – neighbours)
  4. ogórek – ogórki (cucumber – cucumbers)
 Masculine nouns with the stem ending with -ł, -m, -r, -b, -d, -w, -z, -ch, -s, -p, -t and many more. In this case softening of consonants occur:z -> ź, d -> dz, t -> c und ch -> s.
-y
  1. dom – domy (house – houses)
  2. kierownik – kierownicy (manager – managers)
  3. dyrektor – dyrektorzy (director – directors)
  4. stół – stoły (table – tables)
  5. Niemiec – Niemcy (German – Germans)
 Many masculine nouns with stem ending with –k, -g, -or, -ec, -er, but not only them. In this case k to c, gto dz and r to rzchange occur.
-anie
  1. Amerykanin – Amerykanie (American – Americans)
  2. Rosjanin – Rosjanie (Russian – Russians)
 Masculine noun ending in singular form with -anin.
-owie
  1. syn – synowie (son – sons)
  2. ojciec – ojcowie (father – fathers)
  3. pan – panowie (man – men)
 Masculine nouns referring topeople, family relations, titles and rarely nationality.
Particularities
  1. brat – bracia (brother – brothers)
  2. człowiek – ludzie (human – humans)
  3. ksiądz – księża (priest – priests)
  

Feminine (rodzaj żeński)

All feminine plural nouns are ending with –y or -i(e). Examples:
  1. pani – panie (woman – women)
  2. córka – córki (daughter – daughters)
  3. mama – mamy (mother – mothers)
  4. szafa – szafy (wardrobe – wardrobes)
  5. książka – książki (book – books)
  6. lodówka – lodówki (fridge – fridges)
  7. kawa – kawy (coffee)
  8. znajoma – znajome (acquaintance – acquaintances)
Exceptions (feminine ending with consonants):
  1. noc – noce (night – nights)
  2. wieś – wsie* (village – villages)
  3. myśl – myśli (thought – thoughts)

Neuter (rodzaj nijaki)

Neuter in the Polish language may end with –o, –e or -um and in the plural form receive –aending. Examples:
  1. okno – okna (window – windows)
  2. piwo – piwa (beer – beers)
  3. auto – auta (car – cars)
  4. jabłko – jabłka (apple – apples)
  5. morze – morza (sea – seas)
  6. danie – dania (dish – dishes)
  7. muzeum – muzea (museum – museums)
  8. akwarium – akwaria (aquarium – aquariums)
Few neuter nouns ending with –ę receive -ta or -ona suffix. Examples:
  1. zwierzę – zwierzięta (animal – animals)
  2. niemowlę – niemowlęta (baby – babies)
  3. imię – imiona (name – names)
  4. znamię – znamiona (mark – marks)
Exception:
  1. dziecko – dzieci (kid – kids)

Adjectives in nominative

Similar as in the German language, adjectives in Polish are also declined. It means that they may have different endings. Masculine adjectives in the nominative end with –y or -i in feminine with -a and in neuter with -e . Plural get the–e or –y/-i ending. Except for the masculine the majority of adjectives endings are the same as nouns. Take a look at some examples to demonstrate this:

Adjective endings in nominative

Masculine
  1. dobry kolega (good colleague)
  2. wysoki dom (tall house)
  3. drogi samochód (expensive car)
Feminine
  1. szeroka ulica (wide street)
  2. młoda kobieta (young woman)
  3. mała dziewczynka (small girl)
Neuter
  1. małe dziecko (small kid)
  2. duże okno (large window)
  3. trudne zadanie (hard task)
Plural
  1. dobrzy synowie / dobre córki (good sons / good daughters)
  2. ładni chłopcy / ładne dzieci (pretty boys / pretty kids)
  3. starzy ludzie / stare domy (old people / old houses)
In plural there are two possible adjective endings, which follow rules for personal masculine (–y ending) and the so-called mixed masculine (-ee ending) is applied. After consonants -g and -k the masculine form has –i ending instead of -y.

Other helpful Polish lessons:

 
Beginner’s Polish   Learn Polish Polish Surface]]>

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