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Polish · Verb Tables · Intermediate

Mówić / powiedzieć Conjugation

mówić / powiedzieć means "to say / speak" in Polish. Present (imperfective only): ja mówię, ty mówisz, on / ona / ono mówi, my mówimy, wy mówicie, oni / one mówią. Below: all 9 tenses we teach, with examples.

Present (imperfective only) Czas teraźniejszy

Only imperfective verbs have a present tense; it covers both a single ongoing action and a repeated/habitual one ("I read" and "I am reading" are both czytam). Perfective verbs like zrobić, napisać, przeczytać have no present tense at all.

Past, imperfective Czas przeszły, aspekt niedokonany

Drop the infinitive -ć, add -ł- plus a personal ending that shows gender (masculine/feminine/neuter singular, masculine-personal/other plural). Used for an action that was ongoing, repeated, or whose completion isn't the point.

Past, perfective Czas przeszły, aspekt dokonany

Same -ł- endings, built on the perfective verb instead. Used for a single completed action, often with a visible result — this is what usually translates an English present perfect ("I've written it") as well as a simple past.

Future, imperfective Czas przyszły złożony

Conjugate być in the future (będę, będziesz, będzie...) and add the imperfective infinitive: będę czytać. An alternative, equally common form replaces the infinitive with the gendered past participle (będę robił / będę robiła) — both are correct; the infinitive form is used here because it doesn't change with gender.

Future, perfective Czas przyszły prosty

Perfective verbs have no separate future form: their present-tense-shaped conjugation (zrobię, napiszę, przeczytam...) already means "will do (completely)". This is the everyday way Poles say what will get finished.

Conditional, imperfective Tryb warunkowy, aspekt niedokonany

Take the imperfective past-tense form and insert -by- before the personal ending (czytał + by + m = czytałbym); gender still shows in the stem, e.g. robiłbym / robiłabym. Expresses an ongoing/general wish, guess or polite offer.

Conditional, perfective Tryb warunkowy, aspekt dokonany

Same -by- pattern, built on the perfective past instead: zrobiłbym, napisałbym, przeczytałbym. Expresses a single hypothetical completed action — the form used in most "if" sentences with gdyby.

Imperative, affirmative Tryb rozkazujący, forma twierdząca

Bare stem + ending for "you" (rób, zrób); -my for "we" (róbmy, zróbmy); -cie for "you (plural)" (róbcie, zróbcie); niech + the present/future-shaped 3rd person for "he/she/it" and "they", and for the hortative "I" form.

Imperative, negative Tryb rozkazujący, forma przecząca

Add nie before the imperfective imperative, even when forbidding a specific action: nie rób, nie pisz, nie czytaj. Polish normally avoids a perfective negative imperative (nie zrób sounds like a warning against an accident, not an ordinary instruction), so this tense uses the imperfective verbs only.

Examples

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