A2 · Aspect · about 7 minutes
Process or result: robić and zrobić
aspect (aspekt)
The imperfective tells the process, the perfective the result — and both live inside the verb.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need7
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- zakupyshopping
- napisaćto write (and finish)
- koniecend
- zarazin a moment, right away
- zrobićto do, to make (and finish)
- przeczytaćto read (through)
- wysłaćto send
Understand
RememberThe imperfective shows the road, the perfective the destination.
- Signal words
- teraz
- codziennie
- często
- zawsze
- już
- w końcu
- jutro
The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Polish.
| imperfective: the process, the habit | robić, pisać, czytać, kupować |
| perfective: the result, once | zrobić, napisać, przeczytać, kupić |
| imperfective in the present | Robię obiad. |
| perfective: the same form is future | Zrobię obiad. |
| imperfective in the past | Robiłam obiad. |
| perfective in the past | Zrobiłam obiad. |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The imperfective tells a process that lasts or is going on.
Teraz czytam gazetę.I am reading the paper right now.
The imperfective also tells what repeats.
Codziennie robię zakupy.I do the shopping every day.
The perfective tells a result reached once.
Piotr napisał list.Piotr has written the letter.
The “present” form of a perfective verb means the future.
Jutro kupię chleb.Tomorrow I’ll buy bread.
Almost every verb has a partner in the other aspect.
Długo pisałam, ale w końcu napisałam ten list.I was writing for a long time, but in the end I got the letter written. (a woman speaking)
Example sentences
Co robisz? — Gotuję zupę.What are you doing? — I am making soup.
Zaraz zrobię ci herbatę.I’ll make you a cup of tea in a minute.
Marek często kupuje kwiaty.Marek often buys flowers.
6 more example sentences
Marek kupił kwiaty dla mamy.Marek bought flowers for his mum.
Kasia przeczytała już tę książkę.Kasia has already finished reading that book.
Wieczorem zwykle oglądamy telewizję.In the evening we usually watch television.
Dzieci zjadły całą pizzę.The children have eaten the whole pizza.
Ania pije kawę bez cukru.Ania drinks her coffee without sugar.
Wypiję tylko jedną kawę i idę.I’ll just drink one coffee and go.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English speakers like to use the perfective for the present, because in the dictionary it looks so harmless — or because “I do it” sounds like a single complete act. But zrobię is not a present: answer “What are you doing?” with zrobię and you have said “I will do it”. For what is going on now you need robię.
Quick check
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Practise
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Next on the path: 41 · The imperative: czytaj, pisz, róbBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Almost every Polish verb exists in two versions. The imperfective (niedokonany) looks at the process: something goes on, repeats, or is in progress. The perfective (dokonany) looks at the result: something happened once and is complete. Czytam means “I read, I am reading”; przeczytam means “I will read it through, to the end”.
English knows the idea but expresses it in other ways: with particles (“eat” — “eat up”, “drink” — “drink up”, “read” — “read through”), with “finish” or with the tense. Do not map it onto “simple” and “continuous”: czytam covers both “I read” and “I am reading”, and the perfective is not the present perfect either. In Polish you choose in every sentence — there is no neutral verb in between.
The most important consequence: a perfective verb has no present. What is happening right now is not finished yet. The forms that look like a present therefore mean the future with a perfective verb: zrobię means “I will do it”, not “I do”.
Dictionaries and this site give the partners as a pair, the imperfective first: robić / zrobić, pisać / napisać, kupować / kupić. Learn them in pairs from the start. In the examples you will already meet forms in -ł such as napisał and napisała: that is the past tense, which the next section covers properly.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
“Eat up” is already aspect
You know the difference without naming it: “I am eating the soup” and “I have eaten up the soup”. The second says nothing is left. That is exactly jeść and zjeść. Polish simply has this choice for almost every verb, and it is compulsory.
Piotr zjadł całą zupę.Piotr ate up all the soup.
Worth knowing
Simple and continuous are not the key
Gotuję is both “I cook” and “I am cooking”; both are imperfective. The perfective ugotuję is neither — it is “I will get it cooked”. Ask “process or result?”, never “-ing or not?”.
Nie mogę teraz, gotuję.I can’t right now, I am cooking.
The verbs on this page, in every form: kupić · robić · napisać · mieć · zrobić · kupować · czytać · pisać