Today’s lesson is focused on verb conjugation in Polish.
In Polish, verb conjugation is koniugacja czasowników.
To properly conjugate verbs in the present tense, we need to find out what type of verb it is.
There are many irregular verbs in Polish, and those verbs won’t be learned in this lesson.
I’d like you to familiarize yourself with Polish verb conjugation by grouping verbs following regular, predictable patterns first. Then, once you’ve learned those verbs, we can move to the more difficult ones.
Before we begin, this is how our conjugation table will look:
| ja [conjugation] | my [conjugation] |
| ty [conjugation] | wy [conjugation] |
| on, ona, ono [conjugation] | oni, one [conjugation] |
Because Polish doesn’t use personal pronouns as often as we do in English and because I wanted to save room by just including the conjugations, the tables will be made in this order and without the pronouns.
To learn more about personal pronouns in Polish, please click here.
We’ll start with verbs ending in –ać. There are many regular verbs with this ending. And conjugating them is easy!
Our example verb will be czekać – meaning to wait.
| czekać [to wait] |
| czekam | czekamy |
| czekasz | czakacie |
| czeka | czekają |
Easy, right?
| Czekam na ciebie w domu. I’m waiting for you at home. |
| Czy pani czeka na kogoś? Are you [addressing a female] waiting for someone? |
| Grzegorsz i Tomasz czekają na nas. Grzegorsz and Tomasz are waiting for us. |
Other verbs with the same conjugation are:
| kochać | to love |
| czytać | to read |
| mieszkać | to live, to reside |
| znać | to know [a person] |
| przepraszać | to forgive |
| szukać | to look for |
| oglądać | to watch |
| biegać | to run |
| oszczędzać | to save, to conserve |
| dbać | to [take] care |
| latać | to fly |
| pływać | to swim |
| grać | to play |
| sprzątać | to clean |
| wyglądać | to look [appearance] |
| streszczać | to summarize |
| uśmiechać | to smile |
| pokazać | to show |
| ukrywać | to hide |
| pojawiać | to show up |
| unikać | to avoid |
| popełniać | to commit [a crime, mistake] |
| błagać | to beg |
| trzymać | to hold, to keep |
| zbliżać | to move closer |
| ufać | to trust |
| wspierać | to prop up, to bolster |
| pomogać | to help |
| zabraniać | to forbid, to ban |
| przestrzegać | to warn |
| sprawiać | to cause |
| polecać | to recommend |
| spotkać | to meet |
| podobać | to please; to like |
| nastawiać | to set, to put |
| nazywać | to call |
| przedstawiać | to introduce |
| zgadzać | to agree |
| wybierać | to pick, to choose |
| nakrywać | to cover |
| odwiedzać | to visit |
| dawać | to give |
| padać | to fall |
| słychać | to listen [to] |
| wracać | to return, to come back |
| otwierać | to open |
| uważać | to consider |
| ubierać | to dress |
| zaczynać | to start |
| rozmawiać | to converse |
| dotykać | to touch |
| uwielbiać | to adore |
| śpiewać | to sing |
| pytać | to ask |
| witać | to greet |
| uprawiać | to occupy |
| spóźniać | to be late |
| spędzać | to spend |
| zapominać | to forget |
| rzucać | to throw |
| pamiętać | to remember |
| starać | to try |
There are many! The list could go on and on. But that wouldn’t be practical for me to continue, unless you like long lists of verbs. It doesn’t bother me – I love long lists, but not everyone does!
Here are some example sentences featuring some of the verbs from the list:
| Wojtek dobrze gra na gitarze. Wojtek plays the guitar well. |
| Magda i Agnieszka uwielbiają tego śpiewaka. Magda and Agnieszka adore this singer. |
| Uważamy, że jesteście dobrymi ludźmi. We think you’re good people. |
| Oszczędamy peniędzy, żeby kupić sobie nowy samochód. We’re saving money to buy ourselves a new car. |
| Nie pamiętasz tych słów, bo dawno nie uczyłeś się polskiego. You don’t remember these words because you haven’t studied Polish in a long time. |
What else is there to mention?
I guess that’s all for today’s post. There were a lot of verbs!
There will be some quizzes. 🙂
See you all again very soon!