Word formation in Polish: the building blocks of words
A long Polish word is rarely a new word. The bakery is the place of the baker, and the baker is the one who bakes: piec, piekarz, piekarnia. Prefixes give a verb a direction and make it perfective at the same time: pisać, napisać, przepisać, podpisać. Suffixes say whether a word means a person, a place, a quality or something small — and which gender it is, which English never tells you. Know the 68 pieces on this page and you can read many words you have never learnt.
Read a verb from the front: the prefix gives the direction and usually the aspect too. wy- is out, przy- towards, od- away, prze- through, and nearly every verb with a prefix is perfective. Read a noun from the back: the suffix says what it is and its gender. -arz and -nik are men, -ka is the woman or something small, -ość a quality, -anie an activity.
Verb prefixes: direction
Out, in, towards, away, across, down: prefixes that give a verb a movement — and almost always make it perfective, like English phrasal verbs with a sense of “done”.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| wy- | out; also: right to the end | wyjść, wychodzić, wyjechać, wypić, wysłać |
| wy- makes the verb perfective: pić “drink”, wypić “drink up, drink it all”. English often does the same with “out” or “up”. With -chodzić you get an imperfective verb again: wychodzić “to be going out”. | ||
| w-/we- | in, into | wejść, wchodzić, wsiąść, wkładać, wjechać |
| Before a heavy cluster of consonants it is we-: wejść. Its opposite is wy-, so wejście and wyjście are the “entrance” and “exit” signs. | ||
| przy- | towards, here, arriving at a goal | przyjść, przychodzić, przyjechać, przynieść, przywieźć |
| The movement arrives at the speaker or at its goal: przyjechać do Krakowa, to arrive in Kraków. przynieść is “bring”, and English “bring” and “come” carry the same idea of “towards here”. | ||
| od- | away, off; also: back | odjechać, odejść, oddać, odpisać, odebrać |
| Two directions: away from a place (odjechać, to drive off, to depart) and back to the sender (oddać, to give back; odpisać, to write back). | ||
| do- | all the way to, reaching the goal; also: adding more | dojechać, dojść, dopisać, dolać |
| It stresses getting there: jechaćis to be travellingdojechaćto arrive With liquids it means topping up: dolać, to pour in some more. | ||
| prze- | through, across; re-, over; also: to the end | przejść, przejechać, przeczytać, przepisać, przetłumaczyć |
| In space it is “across” (przejść przez ulicę, to cross the street), then “re-” (przepisać, to copy out, to rewrite), and finally just perfective (przeczytać). In front of an adjective it means “very”: przepiękny, przemiły. | ||
| z-/ze- | down, off; also: together | zejść, zjechać, zebrać, zdjąć |
| Two movements: from top to bottom (zejść ze schodów, to come down the stairs) and from everywhere together (zebrać, to collect). The plain aspect prefix z- is in the next group. | ||
| roz- | apart, in all directions; un- | rozpakować, rozdać, rozbić, rozejść się |
| The opposite of z- “together”: rozdać, to hand out; rozejść się, to go separate ways. Often an English un-: rozpakować, to unpack. rozmawiać and rozumieć are words of their own. | ||
| pod-/pode- | under-; up to, close to something | podpisać, podejść, podjechać, podać |
| Under something (podpisać, to sign — literally “underwrite”) or right up close (podejść do okna, to go up to the window). podać is to pass or hand: podaj mi sól, pass me the salt. | ||
| ob-/obe- | around, all round | obejrzeć, obejść, objechać, obudzić |
| All the way round (obejść dom, to walk round the house) and from every side. obejrzeć is the perfective of oglądać: a pair with two different stems. | ||
Verb prefixes: finished, a little, again
Prefixes that mainly change the aspect: to the end, for a while, once more, sign. Which one goes with which verb is learnt with the aspect pair.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| na- | makes it perfective; also: a lot, your fill | napisać, narysować, nakarmić, nauczyć się, najeść się |
| With pisać, rysować, malować, na- only adds the end: the picture is finished. English shows this with the tense alone — “she wrote” — so this is the prefix to think of as “and it was done”. With się it means “enough”: najeść się, to eat your fill. | ||
| z-/s- | makes it perfective without changing much else | zrobić, zjeść, zrozumieć, zgubić, spakować |
| Before a voiceless sound z- becomes s-: pakować, spakować. Whether a verb takes z-, na- or u- follows no rule — learn the pair together. | ||
| u- | makes it perfective; also: away, off | ugotować, umyć, usłyszeć, uciec, ukraść |
| Mostly just the finished result (umyć, ugotować). With movement it means “away”: uciec, to run away, to escape. | ||
| po- | makes it perfective; often: a little, for a while | poczekać, porozmawiać, pospacerować, posprzątać, pomyśleć |
| poczekaćis to wait a whileporozmawiaćto have a chat — the English “have a …” idea With verbs of motion it is setting off: pójść, pojechać. | ||
| za- | makes it perfective; often: the start, or a single time | zapłacić, zadzwonić, zagrać, zaśpiewać, zapytać |
| Often one single time or the beginning: zaśpiewać, to sing a song; zapalić, to light. za- also means “behind”: zajść za róg, to go round the corner. | ||
| przed- | pre-, fore-, before | przedstawić, przedłużyć, przedpokój, przedszkole |
| In front of nouns too: przedpokój, the hall in front of the rooms; przedszkole, nursery school, the school before school. Much like English “pre-”. | ||
| -ywać/-iwać | turns a prefixed perfective verb back into an imperfective one | przepisywać, zapisywać, podpisywać, pokazywać, wypisywać |
| The way back to the imperfective: przepisać → przepisywać. English needs no such thing, because it shows repetition with “every day” or “-ing”. The present mostly goes in -uję: zapisuję, zapisujesz; a few verbs keep -am: wygrywam, odpoczywam. | ||
Negating and intensifying
Not, without, most, over: prefixes in front of adjectives and nouns.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| nie- | un-, in-, not | niemiły, nieczynny, nieznany, niebezpieczny, niewygodny |
| Written as one word with an adjective: niemiły, nieczynny. Always separate with a verb: nie mam, nie wiem. Where English chooses between un-, in-, dis- and non-, Polish has just this one. | ||
| bez- | without; English -less, un- | bezpłatny, bezrobotny, bezdomny, bezpieczny |
| As a preposition bez means “without” and takes the genitive; as a prefix it makes adjectives: bezrobotny, unemployed — literally “workless”; bezdomny, homeless. | ||
| naj- | most: makes the superlative; English -est | najlepszy, najtańszy, najnowszy, najwięcej, najczęściej |
| Placed in front of the comparative: tańszy, najtańszy — cheaper, cheapest. English adds at the end, Polish at the front. It works on adverbs too: najczęściej, most often. | ||
| arcy- | arch-, supremely | arcydzieło, arcyciekawy, arcybiskup |
| Like English “arch-”, as in arcybiskup, archbishop; arcydzieło is a masterpiece. | ||
| nad- | over-, too much, above | nadgodziny, nadwaga, nadzwyczajny, nadmorski |
| Over a limit (nadwaga, being overweight; nadgodziny, overtime) or above a place (nadmorski, by the sea). | ||
People: who does it, who it is
The suffixes that turn an activity or a place into a person — and the ones that turn the man into the woman, which English mostly no longer does.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -arz | someone who does it for a living (male); English -er | lekarz, piekarz, kucharz, pisarz, malarz |
| Masculine and personal: the plural is lekarze, kucharze. The woman’s form is usually -arka: lekarka. | ||
| -nik | someone who belongs to it or does it (male) | pracownik, urzędnik, kierownik, ogrodnik, rolnik |
| praca, pracownik, employee; urząd, urzędnik, civil servant. Things take the same ending: czajnik, kettle. | ||
| -ec | someone who lives somewhere or is like that (male) | mieszkaniec, Niemiec, chłopiec, kupiec |
| The e drops in the other forms: Niemiec, Niemca, Niemcy. | ||
| -ca | someone who does it (male, despite the -a) | sprzedawca, kierowca, doradca, obrońca |
| It ends in -a and is still masculine: miły kierowca, ten sprzedawca. Do not let the ending fool you into feminine adjectives. | ||
| -ista/-ysta | someone who does a subject or plays an instrument; English -ist | turysta, dentysta, pianista, tenisista |
| Like English -ist, but ending in -a and masculine. After t it is -ysta: turysta, dentysta. English often has no -ist: tenisista is a “tennis player”. | ||
| -iciel | someone who does it (male); English -er | nauczyciel, właściciel, myśliciel |
| From the verb: uczyć, to teach, nauczyciel, teacher; myśleć, myśliciel, thinker. | ||
| -ka | turns the man into the woman | studentka, Polka, nauczycielka, sąsiadka, lekarka, turystka |
| The commonest feminine ending: student, studentka; Polak, Polka. English mostly uses one word for both — teacher, student, neighbour — but Polish nearly always distinguishes them. -arz becomes -arka. | ||
| -yni/-ini | the woman to a man in -ca or -a | sprzedawczyni, mistrzyni, gospodyni, monarchini |
| It ends in -i and is feminine: miła sprzedawczyni. | ||
| -owa | the wife of, or the woman in this position | szefowa, królowa, synowa |
| szef, szefowa; syn, synowa, daughter-in-law. It declines like an adjective: z szefową. | ||
| pra- | great-: one generation further | prababcia, pradziadek, prawnuk, prawnuczka |
| babcia, prababcia; wnuk, prawnuk. One short syllable for English “great-”. | ||
| eks- | ex-, former | eksmąż, eksżona, eksdyrektor |
| Colloquial, like English “ex”; in writing you will also see były mąż, her former husband. | ||
| -anin | someone from a country or place; English -an | Amerykanin, Rosjanin, Słowianin, mieszczanin |
| In the plural -in drops: Amerykanin, Amerykanie. The woman is Amerykanka. And note the noun: “He is American” uses the noun in the instrumental, jest Amerykaninem. | ||
Places, appliances and things
Where something happens and what with: shops, rooms, grounds and the machines in the house.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -arnia | the shop or room for something | piekarnia, kawiarnia, księgarnia, kwiaciarnia |
| Feminine: w piekarni, do kawiarni. Often there is a man in -arz to go with it: piekarz, the baker, piekarnia, the baker’s. | ||
| -alnia/-elnia | the room where you do it | przymierzalnia, czytelnia, sypialnia, pralnia |
| From the verb: przymierzać, to try on; przymierzalnia, where you try things on. sypialnia is the bedroom, from sleeping. | ||
| -isko | the ground, the place, the site | lotnisko, boisko, lodowisko, kąpielisko |
| Neuter: na lotnisku. lotis a flightlotniskothe place of flights; boisko is a sports pitch. | ||
| -arka | the machine that does it; English -er | drukarka, zmywarka, suszarka, ładowarka |
| Feminine, although English “printer” feels like a person’s ending: nowa drukarka, the new printer. From the verb: drukować, drukarka; zmywarka, dishwasher. | ||
| -acz | the tool; also: someone who often does it; English -er | otwieracz, odkurzacz, słuchacz, gracz |
| Masculine: otwierać, otwieracz, opener; słuchać, słuchacz, listener; grać, gracz, player. Like English -er, one ending for tools and people. | ||
| -ówka | a short word for a thing, made from adjective and noun | pomidorówka, mikrofalówka, ciężarówka, kablówka |
| Two words become one: zupa pomidorowa, pomidorówka; kuchenka mikrofalowa, mikrofalówka — like English “microwave” for “microwave oven”. In conversation you hear almost only the short form. | ||
| -ina | the meat of the animal | wołowina, wieprzowina, baranina, cielęcina |
| Just as English has “beef” and “pork” beside “cow” and “pig”, Polish has a word of its own for the meat: wołowina from wół, the ox, cielęcina, veal, from cielę, the calf. | ||
Qualities and activities
A quality from an adjective, an activity from a verb: the suffixes for -ness, -ity, -ing and -tion.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -ość | the quality; English -ness, -ity | wolność, młodość, ciekawość, szybkość, radość |
| Always feminine: ta młodość, youth. From the adjective without its ending: wolny, free, wolność, freedom. miłość, love, really does come from miły, but has moved far from “nice”. | ||
| -stwo/-ctwo | the state, the community, the office; English -hood, -ship | bogactwo, lenistwo, bezpieczeństwo, małżeństwo, dzieciństwo |
| Neuter. After t it becomes -ctwo: bogaty, bogactwo, wealth. małżeństwo is marriage and also the married couple. | ||
| -anie | the activity, from a verb in -ać; English -ing | czytanie, pisanie, pływanie, gotowanie, spotkanie |
| Neuter, and the exact twin of the English -ing noun: czytanie, reading. Some have become words of their own: mieszkanieis a flatspotkaniea meeting | ||
| -enie | the activity, from a verb in -ić, -yć, -eć; English -ing | palenie, mówienie, zrobienie, zmęczenie, zaproszenie |
| The stem often softens before -enie: prosić, proszenie; zaprosić, zaproszenie, invitation. | ||
| -cie | the activity, from short verbs in -ć | picie, życie, mycie, zdjęcie |
| pić, picie; żyć, życie, life. zdjęcie comes from zdjąć, to take off, and has long meant a photo. | ||
| -acja | -ation: the action for a verb in -ować | rezerwacja, organizacja, informacja, prezentacja |
| Almost every English word in “-ation” has a Polish twin in -acja, and all are feminine: ta informacja. The verb ends in -ować: rezerwować, to reserve. | ||
| -yka/-ika | a subject, a science; English -ics, -ic | matematyka, informatyka, turystyka, gramatyka, fizyka |
| Feminine and singular, where English “mathematics” and “physics” look plural: ta matematyka. The person often ends in -yk: informatyk, fizyk. | ||
Diminutives and pet forms
Small, dear, polite: endings you hear far more often in Polish than “-ie” or “-y” in English — from adults, too.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -ek | small, dear (masculine nouns) | domek, kotek, piesek, nosek, ząbek |
| It stays masculine: ten domek. The e drops in the other forms: piesek, pieska. | ||
| -ik/-yk | small (masculine nouns) | stolik, koszyk, kluczyk, pokoik |
| In a restaurant stolik is simply the table. The stem can change: stół, stolik. | ||
| -ka | small, dear (feminine nouns) | rybka, kawka, zupka, rączka, główka |
| Very everyday and polite, among adults too: kawka, herbatka — think “a cuppa”, not baby talk. The stem often softens: ręka, rączka. | ||
| -eczka | even smaller, very dear | córeczka, książeczka, łyżeczka, chwileczka |
| The diminutive of the diminutive: córka, córeczka. łyżeczka is simply a teaspoon. | ||
| -uś/-usia | pet form for people | tatuś, mamusia, dziadziuś, synuś |
| Children say tatuś and mamusia, like “Daddy” and “Mummy”. First names have pet forms too: Katarzyna, Kasia; Anna, Ania. | ||
| -ątko | the young, the little one (neuter) | zwierzątko, kociątko, prosiątko |
| zwierzę, the animal, becomes zwierzątko. | ||
| -utki/-eńki | tiny, really: strengthens an adjective | malutki, maleńki, cieplutki, leciutki |
| Adjectives have diminutives too, where English says “teeny” or “nice and”: mały, malutki; ciepły, cieplutki, nice and warm. | ||
Adjectives from nouns
Made of, from, with, like: the suffixes that turn a noun into an adjective — where English simply puts two nouns side by side.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -owy | made of, from, with something | kolorowy, owocowy, czekoladowy, deszczowy, rowerowy |
| Where English simply puts one noun in front of another — fruit juice, cycle path — Polish turns the first into an adjective and usually puts it after: sok owocowy, ścieżka rowerowa. | ||
| -ny | belonging to something | rodzinny, nocny, słoneczny, smaczny, wiosenny |
| The stem often changes before -ny: słońce, słoneczny, sunny; wiosna, wiosenny, spring-like. | ||
| -ski/-cki | from a country, a town, an area | polski, miejski, wiejski, morski, niemiecki |
| Written with a small letter, unlike English “Polish”: Polak, but polski. “In Polish” is po polsku. | ||
| -liwy/-iwy | tending to something | cierpliwy, prawdziwy, leniwy, szczęśliwy |
| cierpieć, to suffer, to put up with; cierpliwy, patient. | ||
| -aty | having something striking; English -ed | brodaty, wąsaty, skrzydlaty, rogaty |
| broda, beard; brodaty, bearded — the same shape as English “bearded”, “horned”. | ||
Adverbs from adjectives
How something happens: a short ending turns the adjective into an adverb, the job English does with -ly.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -o/-ie | turns an adjective into an adverb; English -ly | szybko, tanio, wolno, cicho, ładnie |
| As English has “beautiful” and “beautifully”, Polish has ładny and ładnie. Whether it takes -o or -e with softening (ładnie) you learn with the word; after k, g and ch it is nearly always -o: szybko, cicho. dobrze and źle are forms of their own, like “well” and “badly”. | ||
Verbs from nouns and adjectives
A thing or a quality becomes an action.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -ować | turns a noun into a verb | planować, testować, telefonować, trenować |
| Almost every verb borrowed from another language takes -ować and conjugates the same way: planuję, planujesz. You can rely on this ending. | ||
| -ić/-yć | turns an adjective or noun into a verb | czyścić, suszyć, słodzić, solić |
| słodki, sweet; słodzić, to sweeten. The stem often softens: czysty, clean, czyścić, to clean. | ||
Compounds
Two parts, one word: rare in Polish, and so easy to spot when they turn up.
| Building block | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| samo- | self-, auto- | samochód, samolot, samoobsługa, samodzielny |
| samochódis a “self-goer”samolota “self-flier” — the same idea as English “automobile” The o in the middle is the linking vowel. | ||
| pół- | half, semi- | półrocze, półfinał, półwysep, półkula |
| pół godziny, half an hour, is written as two words; as one only in fixed words such as półrocze, półfinał. | ||
| dwu-/trzy- | two-, three-: in adjectives | dwujęzyczny, dwupokojowy, trzypiętrowy, dwutygodniowy |
| The number joins an adjective, just as in English “two-room”: dwupokojowe mieszkanie. Polish counts rooms, not bedrooms. | ||
| wielo- | multi-, many | wielojęzyczny, wielokrotny, wielodzietny |
| współ- | co-, fellow, together | współpraca, współpracownik, współlokator, współczesny |
| Like English “co-”: praca, współpraca, co-operation; współlokator, flatmate. | ||