Polish verb BYĆ – to be

The Polish verb BYĆ (to be) is the first verb to learn, because you need it in almost every sentence: to say who you are, where you are and what you will be. In this lesson you will learn to conjugate być in the present, past and future tense, and you will meet the polite words Pan and Pani, which Polish uses constantly.

BYĆ in the present tense

Ja jestem	I am
Ty jesteś	You are
On, ona, ono jest	He, she, it is
My jesteśmy	We are
Wy jesteście	You are (plural)
Oni, one są	They are

What is the difference between ONI and ONE? Gender. Oni means “they” for a group of men, or a mixed group of men and women. One means “they” for a group of women (or things, or children without a single man among them). This distinction runs through the whole language, so it’s worth getting used to now.

One more habit to build from day one: Polish usually drops the pronoun, because the verb ending already tells you who acts. Jestem z Polski (I’m from Poland) sounds natural; Ja jestem z Polski adds emphasis, like “It’s ME who is from Poland”.

BYĆ in the past tense

The past tense looks harder because it changes with gender: men and women use different endings. There is a system, though, and it’s the same system for every Polish verb, so learn it once here.

Ja byłem / byłam	I was (a man / a woman speaking)
Ty byłeś / byłaś	You were (to a man / to a woman)
On był, ona była, ono było	He was, she was, it was
My byliśmy / byłyśmy	We were (with men / women only)
Wy byliście / byłyście	You were (with men / women only)
Oni byli / one były	They were (with men / women only)

The pattern: -Ł- for masculine forms, -ŁA- for feminine, -LI- for groups with at least one man, -ŁY- for groups without men.

BYĆ in the future tense

Good news: the future of być ignores gender completely.

Ja będę	I will be
Ty będziesz	You will be
On, ona, ono będzie	He, she, it will be
My będziemy	We will be
Wy będziecie	You will be (plural)
Oni, one będą	They will be

Remember these six forms well. In lesson 6 you will see that będę, będziesz and the rest also build the future tense of every other Polish verb.

Polite “you”: Pan and Pani

Polish does not use ty (you) with strangers, officials, shop assistants or anyone clearly older than you. Instead it uses Pan (Sir, Mr.) for a man and Pani (Madam, Mrs.) for a woman, with the verb in the third person, as if you were talking about the person rather than to them:

Czy jest Pan z Warszawy? – Are you from Warsaw? (to a man; literally “Is the gentleman from Warsaw?”)

Gdzie Pani była? – Where were you? (to a woman)

The plural forms are Panowie (gentlemen), Panie (ladies) and Państwo (ladies and gentlemen, or Mr. and Mrs.).

Examples

Jestem Amerykaninem – I am American (a man speaking)

Jesteś zmęczony? – Are you tired? (to a man)

Ona jest nauczycielką – She is a teacher

Byliśmy wczoraj w kinie – We were at the cinema yesterday

Gdzie byłaś? – Where were you? (to a woman)

Jutro będę w domu – Tomorrow I will be at home

Będziecie na imprezie? – Will you be at the party? (plural)

To jest mój przyjaciel – This is my friend

Vocabulary

być – to be dom – house, home w domu – at home kino – cinema praca – work w pracy – at work dzisiaj – today

wczoraj – yesterday jutro – tomorrow zmęczony / zmęczona – tired (m / f) nauczyciel / nauczycielka – teacher (m / f) przyjaciel – friend tutaj – here tam – there

Exercises

Put BYĆ into the correct form.

1. Ja ______________ studentem (present) – I am a student
2. Czy ty ______________ z Polski? (present) – Are you from Poland?
3. Ona ______________ w pracy (present) – She is at work
4. My ______________ zmęczeni (present) – We are tired
5. Wczoraj ja ______________ w kinie (past, a woman speaking) – Yesterday I was at the cinema
6. Gdzie ty ______________? (past, to a man) – Where were you?
7. Oni ______________ w Krakowie (past) – They were in Krakow
8. Jutro ja ______________ w domu (future) – Tomorrow I will be at home
9. Czy wy ______________ na imprezie? (future) – Will you be at the party?
10. Ona ______________ nauczycielką (future) – She will be a teacher

Answers:

1: jestem; 2: jesteś; 3: jest; 4: jesteśmy; 5: byłam; 6: byłeś; 7: byli; 8: będę; 9: będziecie; 10: będzie