Participles

Content

Participles are words that are formed from words and used as adjectives. In Polish, they can be either active or passive.

Active Participles

These indicate actions ongoing actions and are used only with imperfective verbs. These are often used to describe people.

Formed by adding a c and adjective endings to the 3rd person plural of the present tense.

Infinitive 3rd Person Plural Present Tense Active Participle
kochać

malować

pisać

nieść

kochają

malują

piszą

niosą

kochając

malując

pisząc

niosąc

Examples:

Ona jest bardzo kochająca.
(She is very loving).

Widzę tam dużo malujących.
(I see a lot of painters there).
In this usage, the active participle describes people who are painting.

Passive Participles

These indicate an ongoing or completed actions and states also in the passive voice. Both imperfective verbs and perfective verbs can be used here.

Formation

Stem ending with ać/eć

These verbs remove the “ć”, and add “n” plus adjective endings. Note the e to a change with verbs ending with eć.

Infinitive Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Personal Other Genders
Przezzytać

Zrozumieć

przeczytany

zrozumiany

przeczytana

zrozumiana

przeczytane

zrozumiane

przeczytani

zrozumieni

przeczytane

zrozuzmiane

 

Stem ending with ść, źć, c

These are formed from getting the 2nd person singular present tense form and taking off the esz, then adding “on” plus adjective endings. Note the o to e change in the masculine personal plural form.

Infinitive Masculine Feminine Neuter Mascule Personal Other Genders
przynieść

zawieźć

upiec

przyniesiony

zawieziony

upieczony

przyniesiona

zawieziona

upieczona

przyniesione

zawiezione

upieczone

przyniesieni

zawiezieni

upieczeni

przyniesione

zawiezione

upieczone

 

Stem ending with ić/yć and are in the -ę/-isz and -ę/-ysz conjugation

These are formed from getting the 1st person singular present tense form and taking off the ę, then adding “on” plus adjective endings (These have the same endings as those above with stems ending with ść, źć, and c).

Examples:

Infinitive Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Personal Other Genders
zrobić

nauczyć

zrobiony

nauczony

zrobiona

nauczona

zrobione

nauczone

zrobieni

nauczeni

zrobione

nauczone

 

Stem ending with ąć, uć, or with ić/yć and are have the -ję/-jesz present tense conjugation

These are formed by removing the final ć and adding t plus adjective endings.

Note:

– the t to c change in the masculine personal form.

– that if ąć is preceded by an n, the n softens to ni.

– there is an ą to ę change in all forms

Infinitive Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Personal Other Genders
pociągnąć

wziąć

zepsuć

umyć

pociągnięty

wzięty

zepsuty

umyty

pociągnięta

wzięta

zepsuta

umyta

pociągnięte

wzięte

zepsute

umyte

pociągnięci

wzięci

zepsuci

umyci

pociągnięte

wzięte

zepsute

umyte

 

Stems of the -rzeć type

These are formed by getting the 3rd person masculine past tense form of the verb and replacing the last letter “ł” with “t”, then adding adjective endings. Note the t to c change in the masculine personal.

Infinitive Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Personal Other Genders
drzeć darty darta darte darci darte