The present tense: -m, -sz, -my, -cie, -ą
The present-tense endings are short and recognizable: -m for I, -sz for you, and he has no ending at all. For example: “Mówię po polsku” — I speak Polish. A rule from the Polish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The present-tense endings are short and recognizable: -m for I, -sz for you, and he has no ending at all.
Then the familiar -my, -cie, -ą. The pronoun is almost always dropped: the ending has already said who acts. Mówię po polsku — I speak Polish, without ja: the language is named in the phrase itself.
The verb has exactly three tenses: past, present, future. There is no separate progressive present: one present tense covers both I do and I am doing.
Table
| Person | robić | mówić | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja | robię | mówię | I do |
| ty | robisz | mówisz | you do |
| on, ona | robi | mówi | he, she does |
| my | robimy | mówimy | we do |
| wy | robicie | mówicie | you do |
| oni, one | robią | mówią | they do |
By example
- Mówię po polskuI speak Polish
- Co robisz?What are you doing?
- Piję kawęI drink coffee
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
The present tense: how does it work in Polish?
The present-tense endings are short and recognizable: -m for I, -sz for you, and he has no ending at all.
What does it look like in a Polish example sentence?
“Mówię po polsku” — I speak Polish. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.