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Present Tense - Introduction

The Present Tense in Polish consists of four classes of endings. You must attach these endings to the stem of the verb. For each verb you must memorize its stem and which group of endings it uses.

Number	Subject	First Class	Second Class	Third Class	Fourth Class
Singular Number	I	ę	ię ę	am	em
	You (singular)	esz	isz ysz	asz	esz
	He / She / It	e	i y	a	e
Plural Number	We	emy	imy ymy	amy	emy
	You (plural)	ecie	icie ycie	acie	ecie
	They	ą	ią ą	ają	eją

The best way to do this is to memorize the first two forms of the verb. For example the first two forms of the verb pisać(to write) are:

I write	pisz ę
You_sg write	pisz esz

Based on these forms you can determine that the stem is

pisz

and the verb uses the first class of endings. So the entire conjugation looks like this:

Subject (singular)	Verb	Subject (plural)	Verb
I	pisz ę	We	pisz emy
You	pisz esz	You	pisz ecie
He / She / It	pisz e	They	pisz ą

Beware, that some verbs may have two stems. You can learn more about this and other things in the next article about verb conjugation .

The verb

All verbs in Polish end with

ść

, or

Examples

Polish	English
pisać	to write
iść	to go
móc	be able, can

Note that these endings are not exclusive to verbs. Other words also end with these endings.

Polish	English
śmieć	a trash
kość	a bone
pałac	a palace

Most verbs in the Polish language come in aspect pairs:

Imperfective verbs - describe continuous, ongoing activity.
Perfective verbs - describe completed activity.

Examples

Imperfective verb	Perfective verb
pisać– to be writing	napisać– to have written
czytać– to be reading	przeczytać– to have read
kupować– to be buying	kupić– to have bought
robić– to be doing	zrobić– to have done
budować– to be building	zbudować– to be built

In Present Tense, only imperfective verbs are used. Perfective verbs are reserved for Past and Future Tense.

Structure of affirmative sentences in Present Tense

To build an affirmative sentence in Polish, first place the verb in the correct, conjugated form, then add the rest of the sentence.

Czytam książkę.– I’m reading a book.

Unlike English, in Polish, the personal pronoun (I, You, He...) is not required at the beginning of the sentence. The subject of the sentence is deduced from the verb ending:

Example

Czytam książkę.– I'm reading a book.

Czytasz książkę.– You're_sg reading a book.

If the person or object is not obvious to the listener, the subject is placed at the beginning of the sentence, as in English.

Example

Ania idzie do sklepu.

Ania goes to a store.

If the next sentence refers to the same subject, the subject should not be repeated. Using the subject in the second sentence will sound unnatural to Polish speakers.

Ania idzie do sklepu. Chce kupić chleb.

Ania goes to a store. She wants to buy some bread.

To describe how, where, or when an activity is performed, adverbs are used. In Polish, adverbs usually precede the verb.

Example

Ania bardzo szybko czyta.

Ania is reading really fast.

The table below displays examples of other Present Tense sentences.

Examples

Sentence in Polish	English translation
Piszę książkę.	I’m writing a book.
Mówisz za szybko.	You speak too fast.
Śpimy w namiocie.	We sleep in a tent.
Dzieci idą do szkoły.	Children go to school
Mogę zrobić to szybciej.	I can do it faster.
Codziennie myślimy o tobie.	We think about you every day.
Ładnie śpiewasz.	You sing well.
Pływacie w zakazanym miejscu.	You are swimming in a forbidden place.
Moja mama pracuje w szkole.	My mother works at school.
Siedzę na kanapie.	I'm sitting on a couch.

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Continuity – Present Simple vs. Present Continuous (-ing)

The English language allows expression of present activity using Present Simple or Present Continuous tenses depending on the intended meaning. In Polish, there is no such distinction. The same verb form is used for both cases.

Example

Dużo pływam.– I swim a lot.

Pływam w basenie.– I’m swimming in a pool.

się – reflexive verbs

As in English, Polish has reflexive verbs. In English, they are expressed by reflexive pronouns (such as myself or himself), and their form depends on the subject of the sentence. Polish has only one form of the reflexive pronoun – się. The pronoun się usually follows the verb.

Example

Myję się.– I’m washing myself.

Myjemy się.- We're washing ourselves.

Some verbs are reflexive in Polish but not in English.

Example

Uczę się na egzamin.– I’m learning for the exam.

Auxiliary Verbs

The English language frequently uses auxiliary verbs to express grammatical constructions.

Example

I am writing.

The verb to be in the sentence above has no direct meaning. It serves only as a grammatical construction. In Polish, auxiliary verbs are not used in Present Tense.

Verb conjugation

To learn more about Present Tense navigate to the next article about verb conjugation .

Available Exercises

There are exercises related to this topic. Try out your knowledge and test your understanding.

Exercises for Present Tense

Present Tense (Czas teraźniejszy)

Present Tense - Verbs conjugation

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Present Tense - Introduction

Number	Subject	First Class	Second Class	Third Class	Fourth Class
Singular Number	I	ę	ię ę	am	em
	You (singular)	esz	isz ysz	asz	esz
	He / She / It	e	i y	a	e
Plural Number	We	emy	imy ymy	amy	emy
	You (plural)	ecie	icie ycie	acie	ecie
	They	ą	ią ą	ają	eją

The best way to do this is to memorize the first two forms of the verb. For example the first two forms of the verb pisać(to write) are:

I write	pisz ę
You_sg write	pisz esz

Based on these forms you can determine that the stem is

pisz

and the verb uses the first class of endings. So the entire conjugation looks like this:

Subject (singular)	Verb	Subject (plural)	Verb
I	pisz ę	We	pisz emy
You	pisz esz	You	pisz ecie
He / She / It	pisz e	They	pisz ą

Beware, that some verbs may have two stems. You can learn more about this and other things in the next article about verb conjugation .