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Móc Conjugation

móc means "to be able to" in Polish. Present (imperfective): ja mogę, ty możesz, on / ona / ono (also pan / pani) może, my możemy, wy (also państwo) możecie, oni / one mogą. Below: all 13 tenses we teach, with examples.

Present (imperfective) Czas teraźniejszy

Formed only from imperfective verbs: stem + personal endings. It covers both the simple present and the English present continuous ("I am reading" = czytam), so Polish has no separate continuous tense; the pattern is set by the conjugation class.

Past (imperfective) Czas przeszły niedokonany

Past stem (infinitive minus -ć, plus -ł-) + gender and number endings; the person is shown by the clitic ending (-em, -eś, -śmy, -ście) which can also attach to a preceding word. Forms are given masculine / feminine (/ neuter in the 3rd singular); plural is virile (men or mixed) / non-virile. It names an ongoing, repeated or background action and also does the work of the imperfect and the past continuous.

Pluperfect (literary) Czas zaprzeszły

Past form + the past of być (był, była, było): "czytałem był". Archaic and literary; in modern Polish the ordinary past is used with context or with wcześniej / już, and this tense survives only in old texts and some stylised prose.

Compound future (będę + past form) Czas przyszły złożony (z formą czasu przeszłego)

Future of być + the l-form of the imperfective verb, agreeing in gender and number: "będę czytał / czytała". Used for ongoing or repeated future action. The two compound-future types are interchangeable in meaning; the l-form version is more common in speech with a stated subject.

Compound future (będę + infinitive) Czas przyszły złożony (z bezokolicznikiem)

Future of być + the imperfective infinitive; no gender agreement: "będę czytać". Equivalent to the previous tense and usual when the verb comes first or the speaker is unspecified.

Conditional (imperfective) Tryb przypuszczający

Past l-form + the conditional particle -by with the person clitic (-bym, -byś, -by, -byśmy, -byście, -by); the clitic can detach (ja bym czytał). Used for "would" statements, polite requests, advice and unreal conditions after gdyby; it does not change with time.

Past conditional (literary) Tryb przypuszczający przeszły

Conditional of być (byłbym...) + the l-form: "byłbym czytał". Literary and bookish; in speech and ordinary writing the plain conditional with a past marker (wtedy, wczoraj, gdybym był wiedział...) is used instead.

Subjunctive-type clause with żeby / aby Tryb przypuszczający w zdaniu podrzędnym

Conjunction żeby (or formal aby, by) + l-form with the person clitic. Required after verbs of wanting, ordering, asking, advising, and after "in order to" with a different subject; it has one form for all time references.

Hypothetical clause with gdyby Tryb warunkowy

Gdyby (= gdy + by) + l-form, used in the "if" clause of unreal conditions and in the result clause with the plain conditional: "Gdybym był bogaty, kupiłbym dom."

Wish with oby Tryb życzący

Oby + l-form with clitic expresses a hopeful wish ("may..." / "I hope..."). Often with a perfective verb for a wished-for event. Formal or emotional.

Infinitive (imperfective) Bezokolicznik

Dictionary form ending in -ć (rarely -c, -ść).

Present active participle (-ący) Imiesłów przymiotnikowy czynny

-ący adjective (agrees in gender, number, case): "czytający człowiek" = a reading person. Bookish; only from imperfective verbs.

Contemporary adverbial participle (-ąc) Imiesłów przysłówkowy współczesny

-ąc: simultaneous action with the same subject as the main verb: "czytając, zasnęła". Imperfective verbs only.

Examples

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