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Past Tense - Usage

The Past Tense expresses actions or events that occurred in the past, regardless of when they happened. Polish uses the same grammatical tense whether an action took place five years ago or five minutes ago. The table below displays different English tenses and their Polish translations. Continuous tenses use imperfective verb kupować. Non-continuous tenses use perfective verb kupić.

Examples

Past Simple	Marek bought a new car.	Marek kupił nowy samochód.
Past Continuous	Marek was buying a new car.	Marek kupował nowy samochód.
Present Perfect	Marek has bought a new car.	Marek kupił nowy samochód.
Present Perfect Continuous	Marek has been buying a new car.	Marek kupował nowy samochód.
Past Perfect	Marek had bought a new car before he moved to New York.	Marek kupił nowy samochód, zanim przeprowadził się do Nowego Jorku.
Past Perfect Continuous	Marek had been buying a new car when the accident happened.	Marek kupował nowy samochód, gdy zdarzył się wypadek.

Continuous vs Finished Activity

In Polish, most verbs have two aspects - Perfect and Imperfect. This allows speakers to express whether a past activity was completed.

Imperfect verbs - used for ongoing, incomplete activity
Perfect verbs - used for one-time, completed activity

Example

zrobić_perf	Zrobiłem zadanie domowe. - I did the homework	This indicates that the homework was started and completed.
robić_imperf	Robiłem zadanie domowe. - I was doing the homework.	This indicates that the homework was begun, but does not indicate that it was completed.

As demonstrated above, the Imperfect aspect allows speakers to express the meaning of English continuous tenses.

Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous

These two tenses can be challenging to translate into Polish. They may be translated as either the Past Tense or the Present Tense, depending on the intended meaning:

use the Past Tense for actions that have already been completed
use the Present Tense for actions that are still ongoing

The following example illustrates this difference:

Polish Present Tense	Mieszkam tutaj całe swoje życie.	I've lived here my entire life. (and I'm still living here)
Polish Past Tense	Mieszkałem tutaj całe swoje życie.	I've lived here my entire life. (until now, and since now I'm not living here anymore)

Past Tense - Irregular Verbs

Future Tense (Czas przyszły)

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Cases - Noun Declension

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After reading this book you will be able to decline any noun in the Polish language. This book also contains exercises with answers, which will help you practice what you learn.

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Past Tense - Usage

Examples

Past Simple	Marek bought a new car.	Marek kupił nowy samochód.
Past Continuous	Marek was buying a new car.	Marek kupował nowy samochód.
Present Perfect	Marek has bought a new car.	Marek kupił nowy samochód.
Present Perfect Continuous	Marek has been buying a new car.	Marek kupował nowy samochód.
Past Perfect	Marek had bought a new car before he moved to New York.	Marek kupił nowy samochód, zanim przeprowadził się do Nowego Jorku.
Past Perfect Continuous	Marek had been buying a new car when the accident happened.	Marek kupował nowy samochód, gdy zdarzył się wypadek.

Continuous vs Finished Activity

In Polish, most verbs have two aspects - Perfect and Imperfect. This allows speakers to express whether a past activity was completed.

Imperfect verbs - used for ongoing, incomplete activity
Perfect verbs - used for one-time, completed activity

Example

zrobić_perf	Zrobiłem zadanie domowe. - I did the homework	This indicates that the homework was started and completed.
robić_imperf	Robiłem zadanie domowe. - I was doing the homework.	This indicates that the homework was begun, but does not indicate that it was completed.

As demonstrated above, the Imperfect aspect allows speakers to express the meaning of English continuous tenses.

Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous

These two tenses can be challenging to translate into Polish. They may be translated as either the Past Tense or the Present Tense, depending on the intended meaning:

use the Past Tense for actions that have already been completed
use the Present Tense for actions that are still ongoing

The following example illustrates this difference:

Polish Present Tense	Mieszkam tutaj całe swoje życie.	I've lived here my entire life. (and I'm still living here)
Polish Past Tense	Mieszkałem tutaj całe swoje życie.	I've lived here my entire life. (until now, and since now I'm not living here anymore)

Past Tense - Irregular Verbs

Future Tense (Czas przyszły)

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Cześć! Jestem Jarek, miło mi Cię poznać!

More about me

Drop me a message

Cases - Noun Declension

After reading this book you will be able to decline any noun in the Polish language. This book also contains exercises with answers, which will help you practice what you learn.

Paperback

E-book

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Grammar

Grammar

Past Tense - Usage

Continuous vs Finished Activity

Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous

Cześć! Jestem Jarek, miło mi Cię poznać!

Cases - Noun Declension

Past Tense - Usage

Continuous vs Finished Activity

Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous

Cześć! Jestem Jarek, miło mi Cię poznać!

Cases - Noun Declension