Language/Polish/Grammar/Past-Tense
Hi Polish Learners! 😃
➡ In today's lesson we will learn How to construct the PAST TENSE in Polish.
Happy learning!
Introduction
Like the Polish Future Tense, the Polish Past Tense has two aspects, perfective and imperfective, and is shown with the same pairs.
Polish past tense will tell you person, number, gender, and aspect.
Basic rules
Basic rules are as follows: Directly after the verb stem, you can have e (or nothing) which indicate the person or object is masculine, a, which indicates feminine.
There's also i which indicates at least one or more Animate/living male persons, or y which indicates no animate/living male persons. Directly after these you may have m, which indicates first person, ś which indicates second, nothing, which indicates third singular or third plural, śmy which indicates first plural, or ście, which is second plural.
Polish language-past tense - perfective and imperfective
Singular Number
- 1st person: masculine, feminine
- 2nd person: masculine, feminine
- 3rd person: masculine, feminine, neuter
Plural Number
- 1st person: masculine , not masculine
- 2nd person: masculine, not masculine
- 3rd person: masculine, not masculine
For clarity, examples will be given below.
Perfective: Zrobić
Singular
| Singular | Male | Female | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (ja) | Zrobiłem | Zrobiłam | |
| 2nd (ty) | Zrobiłeś | Zrobiłaś | |
| 3rd (on, ona, ono) | Zrobił | Zrobiła | Zrobiło |
Plural
| Plural | masculine (męskoosobowy) | not masculine (niemęskoosobowy) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st (my) | Zrobiliśmy | Zrobiłyście |
| 2nd (wy) | Zrobiliście | Zrobiłyście |
| 3rd (oni/one) | Zrobili | Zrobiły |
Imperfective: Próbować
Singular
| Singular | Male | Female | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (ja) | Próbowałem | Próbowałam | |
| 2nd (ty) | Próbowałeś | Próbowałaś | |
| 3rd (on, ona, ono) | Próbował | Próbowała | Próbowało |
Plural
| Plural | masculine (męskoosobowy) | not masculine (niemęskoosobowy) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st (my) | Próbowaliśmy | Próbowałyście |
| 2nd (wy) | Próbowaliście | Próbowałyście |
| 3rd (oni/one) | Próbowali | Próbowały |
Examples
| English | Polish |
To love | |
| I loved | Já kochałem |
| You loved | Ty kochałeś |
| He loved | On kochał |
| We loved | My kochaliśmy |
| You loved | Wy kochaliście |
| They loved | Oni kochali |
To speak | |
| I spoke | Já mówiłem |
| You spoke | Ty mówiłeś |
| He spoke | On mówił |
| We spoke | My mówiliśmy |
| You spoke | Wy mówiliście |
| They spoke | Oni mówili |
To sleep | |
| I slept | Já spałem |
| You slept | Ty spałeś |
| He slept | On spał |
| We slept | My spaliśmy |
| You slept | Wy spaliście |
| They slept | Oni spali |
To eat | |
| I ate | Já jadłem |
| You ate | Ty jadłeś |
| He ate | On jadł |
| We ate | My jedliśmy |
| You ate | Wy jedliście |
| They ate | Oni jedli |