Past Tense in Polish

In Polish, unlike in English, German, French, Italian or Spanish, there is only one past tense, but it can have two aspects: perfective and imperfective (the difference between the two is similar to the difference between "Simple Past" and "Past Continuous" in English or "Pretérito Indefinido" and "Imperfecto" in Spanish) - the first one describes single events, the second one is used to talk about events that happened several times in the past.

When to use the past tense in Polish in the imperfective aspect?

Used for:

• Ongoing, repeated, or habitual past actions

• Descriptions or background actions

• Actions with no clear endpoint

Examples:

• Codziennie czytałem książkę. – I was reading / used to read a book every day.

• Wczoraj pisałem list. – I was writing a letter yesterday.

• Ona chodziła do szkoły muzycznej. – She used to go to music school.

When to use the past tense in Polish in the perfective aspect?

Used for:

• Completed actions

• Actions viewed as a whole, often single events

• Results or achievements

Examples:

• Przeczytałem książkę. – I (have) read the book (completely).

• Napisałem list. – I wrote the letter (and finished it).

• Zadzwoniła do mnie wczoraj. – She called me yesterday.

How to conjugate verbs in the past tense in Polish?

To conjugate a verb in Polish in the past tense, you need to add a suffix from the table below

	M	F	M	F
ja	studiowałem	studiowałam	–łem	–łam
ty	studiowałeś	studiowałaś	–łeś	–łaś
on	studiował		–ł
ona		studiowała		–ła
my	studiowaliśmy	studiowałyśmy	–liśmy	–łyśmy
wy	studiowaliście	studiowałyście	–liście	–łyście
oni	studiowali		–li
one		studiowały		–ły

How to form perfective past ?

There are many prefixes the addition of which to the verb, changes its meanig to perfective. Some of the most popular include "z-", "u-", "prze-", "po-" and "na-".

za-

Indicates completion or initiation of an action

• robić → zrobić (to do → to complete the action of doing)

  • Zrobiłem zadanie. (I completed the task.)

u-

Implies a single, often sudden or momentary action

• słyszeć → usłyszeć (to hear → to suddenly hear)

  • Usłyszałem dźwięk dzwonka. (I heard the sound of the bell.)

prze-

Suggests thoroughness or completion of the action

• czytać → przeczytać (to read → to read completely)

  • Przeczytałem cały artykuł. (I read the entire article.)

po-

Indicates starting or a specific result of the action

• sprzątać → posprzątać (to clean → to clean up)

  • Posprzątałem pokój. (I cleaned the room.)

na-

Suggests direction towards a goal or completion of an action

• uczyć → nauczyć (to teach → to teach thoroughly)

  • Nauczyłem się nowego języka. (I learned a new language.)