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Polish Grammar: Chapter XI.
Verbs: Present 1
You have already learned several verbs, now it is time for a separate skill only for verbs. Apart from the remaining forms of mówić (to speak) in Lesson 1, every other lesson introduces all forms of a completely new verb. All those verbs take an object in Accusative.
This is a good moment to remind that Accusative of masculine nouns depends on whether the noun is animate or inanimate. If the noun is masculine inanimate, the Accusative form is identical to the Nominative one, and if it’s masculine animate, then Accusative is identical to Genitive. Which you don’t know yet, but you will learn in the next skill, so it’s worth knowing already.
Most Polish verbs have relatively regular conjugation, with two most common patterns, which will be shown on the following examples from the skill:
This is a good moment to remind that Accusative of masculine nouns depends on whether the noun is animate or inanimate. If the noun is masculine inanimate, the Accusative form is identical to the Nominative one, and if it’s masculine animate, then Accusative is identical to Genitive. Which you don’t know yet, but you will learn in the next skill, so it’s worth knowing already.
Most Polish verbs have relatively regular conjugation, with two most common patterns, which will be shown on the following examples from the skill:
| Grammatical person | (pronoun) + conjugated form of “widzieć” (to see) |
|---|---|
| 1st person singular (I) | (ja) widzę |
| 2nd person singular (you) | (ty) widzisz |
| 3rd person singular (he/she/it) | (on/ona/ono) widzi |
| 1st person plural (we) | (my) widzimy |
| 2nd person plural (you) | (wy) widzicie |
| 3rd person plural (they) | (oni/one) widzą |
| Grammatical person | (pronoun) + conjugated form of “kochać” (to love) |
|---|---|
| 1st person singular (I) | (ja) kocham |
| 2nd person singular (you) | (ty) kochasz |
| 3rd person singular (he/she/it) | (on/ona/ono) kocha |
| 1st person plural (we) | (my) kochamy |
| 2nd person plural (you) | (wy) kochacie |
| 3rd person plural (they) | (oni/one) kochają |
Vocabulary: kochać vs lubić
This is mostly for speakers of Russian, who tend to mix them up. kochać and lubić
are very different in Polish, “kochać” being a lot stronger – it is
either romantic love or love between members of family. Please keep to
the direct translation of “kochać” = “to love” and “lubić” = “to like”.
Some native speakers of Polish do not like the idea of using “kochać” with inanimate objects, but it is possible and used in this course. A better verb for ‘loving’ inanimate objects may be uwielbiać, which with people is something between "to love" and "to adore".
Some native speakers of Polish do not like the idea of using “kochać” with inanimate objects, but it is possible and used in this course. A better verb for ‘loving’ inanimate objects may be uwielbiać, which with people is something between "to love" and "to adore".
Vocabulary: znać vs wiedzieć
You don’t have “wiedzieć” introduced yet, but it is worth to be aware
of it, as the difference between them is often problematic for the
learners. znać is more like “to be familiar with something/someone”, while wiedzieć is “to have some knowledge”.
Generally, “znać” will be translated as “to know X” and “wiedzieć” will
be “to know about X”, “to know, that X”, and similar. They are
absolutely not interchangeable and almost always when one is correct, the other will be completely wrong.
Grammar: Infinitives
As you see, the Tips & Notes use the infinitive forms of the verb
(the basic ones, those that you will find in a dictionary), although
none of them has been introduced in the course yet. Time will come for
that, we are still in the very basics.
Grammar: Perfective vs imperfective
Another point for which it is too early, but it is good to know that already: Polish verbs are either perfective or imperfective.
The Polish names (dokonany and niedokonany) may be literally translated
as ‘accomplished’ and ‘not-accomplished’, which show their functions
well.
Perfective verbs focus on the effect of finishing the action. Imperfective verbs focus on the process, on the duration. Because of that, by definition, all verbs in the Present Tense are imperfective. It is impossible to use a perfective verb in the Present Tense. They will be introduced later in the tree.
Perfective verbs focus on the effect of finishing the action. Imperfective verbs focus on the process, on the duration. Because of that, by definition, all verbs in the Present Tense are imperfective. It is impossible to use a perfective verb in the Present Tense. They will be introduced later in the tree.
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