Perfective and imperfective aspect
In Polish language, as well as in all Slavic languages, there are two aspect of verbs – perfective and imperfective. Perfective verbs exist only in past and future tenses, and in infinitive form, but not in present tense! That’s why we will consider them in this lesson along with past tense, and in the next lesson – in future tense. By the way, if you ever learned Russian – it must be easy for you.
In the previous lesson – Present tense in Polish language, we considered only imperfective verbs, because as it was said above, they have form only in past and future.
Difference between Polish perfective and imperfective verbs:
Almost all verbs have a form in both aspects. They differ by a prefix or by ending, or by whole for of verb. For example: kupować(imperf.) and kupić(perf.), dawać(imperf.) and dać(perf.), rozumieć(imperf.) and zrozumieć(perf.) – It will be considered later.
Imperfective verbs describe process of an action;
Perfective verbs describe result of an action.
Now we will learn how to conjugate verbs in past and future tense and then will consider difference between perfective and imperfective aspect on practice.
Past tense
The rules of conjugation of Polish verbs in past tense are the same for perfective and imperfective verbs.
In order to conjugate a verb in past tense, cut off –Ć and add an appropriate ending, there is not difference between verb groups like in present tense.
Let’s conjugate the verb kupować/kupić.
| Kupować (imperfective) | Kupić (Perfective) | |
| Ja kupowałem (a man says) Ja kupowałam (a woman says) | Ja kupiłem Ja kupiłam | I bought |
| Ty kupowałeś (said to a man) Ty kupowałaś (said to a woman) | Ty kupiłeś Ty kupiłaś | You bought |
| On kupował Ona kupowała Ono kupowało | On kupił Ona kupiła Ono kupiło | He bought She bought It bought |
| My kupowaliśmy (m+w/m+m) My kupowałyśmy(w+w) | My kupiliśmy My kupiłyśmy | We bought |
| Wy kupowaliście (m+w/m+m) Wy kupowałyście (w+w) | Wy kupiliście Wy kupiłyście | You bought (plural) |
| Oni kupowali One kupowały | Oni kupili One kupiły | They bought |
All verbs in past tense will have these endings.
Recommendation: When you learn new verbs, memorize both forms of a verb.
Now we’re going to consider examples and understand the difference between Polish verb aspects in practice.
On kupował książki w tym sklepie – He was buying books in this store (Kupować(imp.) – process of the action)
On kupił książki w tym sklepie – He has bought books un that store (Kupić(perf.) – result of the action)
My patrzyliśmy na górę – We were looking at the mountain (Patrzyć(imp.) – to look at, process of the action)
My popatrzyliśmy na górę – We have looked at the mountain (Popatrzyć(perf.) – to look at, result of the action)
Ja malowałem ścianę – I was painting the wall (Malować(imp.) – to paint, process of painting)
Ja pomalowałem ścianę – I have painted the wall (Pomalować(perf.) – to paint, result of painting)
Let me correct some errors in the conjugation.
“Ja kupiłam” instead of “Ja kupiła” – I bought (feminine)
“Ona kupiła” instead of “On kupiła” – she bought
“Ono kupiło” instead of “On kupiło” – it bought
“My kupowałyśmy” instead of “My kupowałiśmy” – we bought or we were buying (feminine)
“Wy kupowałyście” instead of “Wy kupowałiście” – you bought or you were buying (feminine, plural)
Also, in my opinion, the Imperfect verbs can often be compared more accurately to the Past Continuous, while the Perfect forms to the Past Simple or Present Perfect, so the sentences “On kupował książki w tym sklepie”, “My patrzyliśmy na górę” and “Ja malowałem ścianę” would be closer to “I was buying books in this store”, “We were looking at the mountain” and “I was painting the wall”.
Thank you! Fixed.