Language/Polish/Grammar/Imperative-Mood

IMPERATIVE in Polish

Hi Polish Learners! 😃

➡ In today's lesson we will learn How to Construct the Polish Imperative Mood.

The imperative is an important aspect of the Polish language, as it allows you to give commands or make requests in a direct way. In this lesson, we will cover the rules for transforming the present tense into the imperative, including removing the ending of the 3rd person singular, using alternations for certain verbs, and adding "-j" for verbs ending in several consonants. We will also explore the formation of plural imperatives, including the use of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person plural. Additionally, we will provide video resources to help you better understand the concepts covered in this lesson. By the end of this lesson, you will have a solid understanding of how to transform the present tense into the imperative in Polish.

Happy learning!

Don't hesitate to look into these other pages after completing this lesson: Cases, Gender, Genitive Case & Future and Conditional Tenses.

For the 1st (–ę, -esz) and the 2nd (–ę, -isz / ysz) conjugation group we create the future tense in the same way:

Transform the Present tense into Imperative

We remove the ending of the 3rd person singular in the present

• Present tense : pisać (to write): ja piszę, on pisze
• Imperative: pisz! (shout!)

In some verbs there is an alternation o/ó

• Present tense: zrobić (to do), ja robię, on robi,
• Imperative: rób!

For verbs that end with several consonants, we add at the end -j

• Present tense: zamknąć (to close): ja zamknę, on zamknie,
• Imperative: zamknij!

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• Present tense: spać (to sleep): ja śpię, we śpi
• Imperative: śpij

For verbs of the 3rd type of conjugation, we create the imperative by removing the ending -ą from the 3rd person plural in the present

• Present tense: jeść (to eat): oni, one jedzą
• Imperative: jedz!

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• Present tense: wiedzieć (to know): oni, one wiedzą,
• Imperative: wiedz!

Plural imperative

The 1st and 2nd person are formed by adding, the ending -my for the 1st person, and the ending -cie for the 2nd person

Examples:

• wiedzmy, wiedzcie
• jedzmy, jedzcie
• śpijmy, śpijcie

The 3rd person plural is used in expressions of politeness

In the 3rd person singular we add a word niech. 

Examples:

• niech pan je, niech pani je, niech państwo (Mr., Mrs.)
• jedzą (that Mr. eats, that Mrs. eats, that Mr., Mrs. eats)
• niech pan śpi, nich pani śpi, niech państwo śpią (that Mr. sleeps, that Mrs. sleeps , that Mr, Mrs sleep)

Sources

• https://www.po-polsku.fr/imperatif.php
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_grammar
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGxYfnkaR0M
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGxYfnkaR0M

Other Lessons

• Adverbs
• Future Tense
• Definite Articles in Polish
• Indefinite Articles in Polish
• Gender
• Be Polite
• Past Tense
• Perfective and imperfective verbs
• Conditional Mood