A2 · The past tense · about 7 minutes
Forming the past: czytałem, czytałam
the past tense (czas przeszły)
The infinitive without -ć, then -ł- and an ending for person and gender.
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 need3
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- wczorajyesterday
- caływhole, all
- pizzapizza
Understand
RememberNo auxiliary, just -ł- and an ending: -łem for him, -łam for her.
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
The past — Something that happened, finished, and stays where it happened.
- Signal words
- wczoraj
- przedwczoraj
- w zeszłym tygodniu
- rok temu
- kiedyś
- wtedy
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Polish. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) tense marker person ending
| I read (a man) | (ja) czytałem |
| you read (to a man) | (ty) czytałeś |
| he read | (on) czytał |
| we read (with a man) | (my) czytaliśmy |
| you read (several, with a man) | (wy) czytaliście |
| they read (with a man) | (oni) czytali |
| I read (a woman) | (ja) czytałam |
| you read (to a woman) | (ty) czytałaś |
| she read | (ona) czytała |
| we read (women only) | (my) czytałyśmy |
| you read (several, women only) | (wy) czytałyście |
| they read (no men) | (one) czytały |
| it (ono) | czytało, było, robiło |
| -eć: e becomes a | mieć → miałem, chcieć → chciałam |
| a stem of its own | iść → szedłem, szłam; jeść → jadłem; móc → mogłem, mógł |
| the same pattern | być, robić, pisać, pracować, mieszkać, kupić, zrobić |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
The infinitive without -ć plus -ł is the form for “he”.
Piotr pracował w banku.Piotr worked at a bank.
For “she” you add -a.
Ania mieszkała w Poznaniu.Ania lived in Poznań.
A man says -łem, a woman -łam.
Byłem zmęczony, więc zostałem w domu.I was tired, so I stayed at home. (a man speaking)
In -eć the e before ł becomes a.
Miałam dziś dużo pracy.I had a lot of work today. (a woman speaking)
There is no auxiliary; one form covers “I read”, “I have read” and “I was reading”.
Co robiłeś w weekend?What did you do at the weekend? (to a man)
Example sentences
Wczoraj pisałam e-maile cały dzień.Yesterday I was writing emails all day. (a woman speaking)
Dziecko spało do dziewiątej.The child slept until nine.
Gdzie byłeś, Piotrze?Where have you been, Piotr?
6 more example sentences
Babcia chciała zostać w domu.Gran wanted to stay at home.
Marek szedł powoli do domu.Marek was walking home slowly.
Rano jadłam jajko i chleb.In the morning I had an egg and some bread. (a woman speaking)
Dlaczego nie mogłeś przyjść?Why couldn’t you come? (to a man)
Kasia czytała książkę w parku.Kasia was reading a book in the park.
Pogoda była piękna.The weather was beautiful.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English builds half its past with “have”, “was” or “did”, so English speakers like to slip an auxiliary in: jestem byłfor “I have been”mam czytałfor “I have read” Polish has none. The person is in the ending: byłem.
Quick check
A warm-up: 2 questions, answered straight away. They do not count towards your progress.
Practise
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself10 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
Well done
How well do you know this topic?
This is filled in automatically after you practise. You can change it here at any time.
Next on the path: 40 · Process or result: robić and zrobićBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
You build the past tense (czas przeszły) from the infinitive: drop the -ć and add -ł-. czytać becomes czytał, “he read, he has read, he was reading”. That is already the form for “he”. For “she” add -a: czytała. For “it” -o: czytało. Remember that ł is said like English w — czytał sounds like “chitaw”.
For “I” and “you” a personal ending is added: a man says czytałem, czytałeś; a woman says czytałam, czytałaś. This is new: in English nobody can hear from the verb whether a man or a woman is speaking. In Polish you hear it in every sentence about yesterday — so decide now which form is yours.
There is no auxiliary — no “have”, no “did”, no “was”. Czytałam means “I read”, “I have read” and “I was reading” all at once. As in the present, you drop the pronoun, because the ending already shows the person.
In verbs in -eć the e before the ł becomes a: mieć → miałem, chcieć → chciałam. Some common verbs change their stem: iść → szedłem, szłam; jeść → jadłem; móc → mogłem, but on mógł.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
One past instead of five
Past simple, past continuous, present perfect and past perfect all collapse into one Polish form. “I was”, “I have been” and “I had been” are all byłem or byłam. What happened earlier is shown with words such as wcześniej (earlier) or już (already).
Kiedy przyszłam, Piotr już wyszedł.When I arrived, Piotr had already left. (a woman speaking)
Worth knowing
Gender lives in the verb
In exercises and conversations you have to decide who is speaking. If you are a woman you say byłam, zrobiłam; if you are a man, byłem, zrobiłem. It is not a matter of politeness but of grammar.
Byłam zmęczona, więc poszłam spać.I was tired, so I went to bed. (a woman speaking)
The verbs on this page, in every form: być · zostać · mieć · iść · mieszkać · pracować · chcieć · robić