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
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 |
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 |
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 |