Polish verb aspect and the past tense

Polish verb aspect is the feature that makes Slavic languages famous, and the past tense is the best place to meet it. Almost every Polish verb comes in a pair: an imperfective verb for a process and a perfective verb for a finished result. English hides this difference inside its many tenses; Polish puts it into the verb itself.

Imperfective and perfective: what’s the difference?

Imperfective verbs describe a process, a repeated action or a habit: czytać (to read, to be reading), kupować (to buy regularly, to be buying).

Perfective verbs describe a completed action with a result: przeczytać (to read to the end), kupić (to buy, done).

The pair may differ by a prefix (czytać / przeczytać), by a suffix (kupować / kupić) or, rarely, be two different words (brać / wziąć, to take). When you learn a new verb, learn both halves of the pair at once.

One rule follows from the meaning: perfective verbs have no present tense. You can’t be in the middle of a finished action. They exist only in the past and the future.

How to form the past tense

The past tense works the same for both aspects, and for every conjugation group. Take the infinitive, cut off -Ć, and add the endings you already know from the verb być: -ł, -ła, -ło for singular, -li, -ły for plural, plus the personal endings.

The pair kupować / kupić (to buy):

Kupować (imperfective)	Kupić (perfective)
Ja kupowałem / kupowałam	Ja kupiłem / kupiłam	I was buying / I bought
Ty kupowałeś / kupowałaś	Ty kupiłeś / kupiłaś	You were buying / you bought
On kupował, ona kupowała, ono kupowało	On kupił, ona kupiła, ono kupiło	He / she / it was buying, bought
My kupowaliśmy / kupowałyśmy	My kupiliśmy / kupiłyśmy	We were buying / we bought
Wy kupowaliście / kupowałyście	Wy kupiliście / kupiłyście	You were buying / you bought
Oni kupowali / one kupowały	Oni kupili / one kupiły	They were buying / they bought

As in the past tense of być: the first form of each pair is masculine, the second feminine. The plural -li forms are for groups with at least one man, the -ły forms for groups without men.

The two aspects in action

Compare these pairs. The Polish sentences differ by one verb; the English translations need a whole different tense:

Wczoraj czytałem książkę – Yesterday I was reading a book (process; maybe I finished, maybe not)

Wczoraj przeczytałem książkę – Yesterday I read the book (finished it, done)

Ona pisała list cały wieczór – She was writing a letter all evening

Ona napisała list – She wrote the letter (and it’s ready)

Malowałem ścianę – I was painting the wall

Pomalowałem ścianę – I painted the wall (it’s painted now)

A rule of thumb: if you can add “and finished it” to the sentence, use the perfective. If the point is duration, repetition or a habit, use the imperfective.

Examples

Co robiłeś wczoraj? – What were you doing yesterday? (to a man)

Kupiłam nowy telefon – I bought a new phone (a woman speaking)

Mieszkaliśmy w Gdańsku pięć lat – We lived in Gdansk for five years

Zrobiłem zadanie domowe – I did (finished) my homework

One długo rozmawiały – They talked for a long time (women)

Kto zjadł moją kanapkę? – Who ate my sandwich?

Vocabulary

kupować / kupić – to buy czytać / przeczytać – to read pisać / napisać – to write robić / zrobić – to do, to make jeść / zjeść – to eat

malować / pomalować – to paint rozmawiać / porozmawiać – to talk długo – for a long time cały wieczór – all evening pięć lat – five years

Exercises

Put the verb into the past tense; choose the aspect that fits the meaning.

1. Wczoraj ja ______________ list do babci (PISAĆ / NAPISAĆ) – Yesterday I wrote (and sent) a letter to grandma (a woman speaking)
2. On cały dzień ______________ telewizję (OGLĄDAĆ) – He watched TV all day
3. My ______________ nowe mieszkanie (KUPOWAĆ / KUPIĆ) – We bought a new apartment (mixed group)
4. Czy ty już ______________ tę książkę? (CZYTAĆ / PRZECZYTAĆ) – Have you already read this book? (to a man)
5. Ona często ______________ do Polski (JEŹDZIĆ) – She often traveled to Poland
6. Dzieci ______________ obiad i poszły grać (JEŚĆ / ZJEŚĆ) – The children ate lunch and went to play
7. Ja ______________ w tej firmie dwa lata (PRACOWAĆ) – I worked at this company for two years (a man speaking)
8. Wy ______________ wczoraj w kinie? (BYĆ) – Were you at the cinema yesterday? (mixed group)

Answers:

1: napisałam; 2: oglądał; 3: kupiliśmy; 4: przeczytałeś; 5: jeździła; 6: zjadły; 7: pracowałem; 8: byliście