Table of Contents
The Polish verb MIEĆ (to have) is one of the most frequent words in the language, and it hides a second job: its negated form nie ma is how Polish says “there isn’t”. In this lesson you’ll learn mieć in all tenses, how to say “there is / there are” in Polish, and the little word swój that English doesn’t have.
MIEĆ in the present tense
| Ja mam | I have |
| Ty masz | You have |
| On, ona ma | He, she has |
| My mamy | We have |
| Wy macie | You have (plural) |
| Oni, one mają | They have |
The thing you have goes into the accusative: Mam siostrę – I have a sister. Mam czas – I have time.
In the past it’s regular: miałem / miałam (I had), miał / miała (he / she had), mieliśmy / miałyśmy (we had). In the future, use będę + miał/miała or the infinitive: będę mieć – I will have.
Negation: mieć takes the genitive
Here is a rule that applies to every Polish verb, and mieć is where you’ll drill it: a negated direct object goes into the genitive, not the accusative.
Mam czas – I have time → Nie mam czasu – I don’t have time
Mam samochód – I have a car → Nie mam samochodu – I don’t have a car
Ona ma pytanie – She has a question → Ona nie ma pytań – She has no questions
“There is / there are” in Polish
For “there is”, Polish simply uses jest, and for “there are”, są:
Na stole jest butelka – There is a bottle on the table
W parku są dzieci – There are children in the park
The surprise is the negative. Instead of “nie jest”, Polish uses nie ma (literally “it doesn’t have”) plus the genitive, for both singular and plural:
Na stole nie ma butelki – There is no bottle on the table
W parku nie ma dzieci – There are no children in the park
Nie ma problemu – No problem (a phrase you’ll hear daily)
The same works in the past and future: Nie było czasu – There was no time. Nie będzie czasu – There will be no time.
The possessive SWÓJ
Polish has a special possessive, swój, meaning “one’s own”, used when the owner is the subject of the sentence:
Czytam swoją książkę – I’m reading my (own) book
On czyta swoją książkę – He is reading his (own) book
On czyta jego książkę – He is reading his book (someone else’s!)
Swój declines like an adjective (swój, swoja, swoje…). Using mój instead of swój after “ja” is not an error (Czytam moją książkę is fine), but swój sounds more natural, and in the third person the difference changes the meaning, as the example above shows.
Examples
Masz rodzeństwo? – Do you have siblings?
Mam brata i siostrę – I have a brother and a sister
Nie mam pieniędzy – I don’t have money
Czy jest tu blisko apteka? – Is there a pharmacy near here?
Niestety, nie ma już biletów – Unfortunately, there are no tickets left
Kiedy byłem mały, mieliśmy psa – When I was little, we had a dog
W tym mieście nie było lotniska – There was no airport in this city
Ona zawsze zapomina swojego telefonu – She always forgets her phone
Vocabulary
| mieć – to have
brat – brother siostra – sister rodzeństwo – siblings pieniądze – money pytanie – question |
apteka – pharmacy
butelka – bottle problem – problem blisko – near niestety – unfortunately już – already / (with negation) anymore |
Exercises
Fill in the correct form of MIEĆ, JEST/SĄ or NIE MA (watch the case!).
- Ja ______________ dwa bilety – I have two tickets
- Czy ty ______________ czas jutro? – Do you have time tomorrow?
- My nie ______________ samochodu – We don’t have a car
- W lodówce ______________ mleko – There is milk in the fridge
- W lodówce nie ______________ mleka – There is no milk in the fridge
- Na ulicy ______________ ludzie – There are people in the street
- Wczoraj nie ______________ czasu – Yesterday there was no time
- Oni ______________ duży dom (past) – They had a big house
- Czy (wy) ______________ pytania? – Do you have questions?
- Nie ma ______________ (problem) – No problem
Answers:
1: mam; 2: masz; 3: mamy; 4: jest; 5: ma; 6: są; 7: było; 8: mieli; 9: macie; 10: problemu