Common Irregular Verbs in Polish

In Brief

Five very common Polish verbs have present-tense forms that cannot be predicted reliably from their infinitives: iść “go,” jeść “eat,” wiedzieć “know,” chcieć “want,” and brać “take.” Learn each verb through a few anchor forms—especially ja, ty, and oni/one—rather than trying to attach one regular set of endings.

Overview

These five verbs appear in basic conversations from the A1 level onward. They let you say where you are going, what someone eats, what you know, what you want, and what you take. Their infinitives (dictionary forms such as iść) do not show all the changes that occur when the verbs are conjugated (changed to match the person doing the action).

English usually keeps the verb nearly unchanged—“I want,” “you want,” “we want”—and requires an explicit subject. Polish changes the verb more clearly: chcę, chcesz, chcemy. Because the ending normally identifies the subject, Polish often leaves out ja “I,” ty “you,” and the other subject pronouns. Thus Wiem is a complete sentence meaning “I know.”

The beginner goal is practical: recognise and produce the six present forms of each verb. The alternations inside the stems—such as je- alongside jedz- or bior- alongside bierz-—are normal parts of these verbs, not spelling mistakes.

How It Works

Polish has three grammatical persons in the singular and three in the plural. “Person” simply means whether the subject is the speaker, the person addressed, or someone else.

Person	Polish pronoun	Basic meaning
1st person singular	ja	I
2nd person singular	ty	you, one person, informal
3rd person singular	on / ona / ono	he / she / it
1st person plural	my	we
2nd person plural	wy	you, more than one person
3rd person plural	oni / one	they

The verb forms below work with those subjects. The third-person form does not change for gender: on idzie, ona idzie, and ono idzie all use idzie. Likewise, both oni and one use the same plural verb form.

iść — to go, to walk

Person	Form	Example meaning
ja	idę	I am going
ty	idziesz	you are going
on / ona / ono	idzie	he / she / it is going
my	idziemy	we are going
wy	idziecie	you are going
oni / one	idą	they are going

At beginner level, use iść for movement on foot toward a destination, especially movement happening now: Idę do domu “I’m going home.” Polish does not have a separate present continuous tense like English “am going”; the ordinary present form supplies that meaning in context.

jeść — to eat

Person	Form	Example meaning
ja	jem	I eat / I am eating
ty	jesz	you eat / are eating
on / ona / ono	je	he / she / it eats
my	jemy	we eat / are eating
wy	jecie	you eat / are eating
oni / one	jedzą	they eat / are eating

Notice the short third-person singular je, but the plural jedzą. Do not build these forms mechanically from jesz.

wiedzieć — to know a fact

Person	Form	Example meaning
ja	wiem	I know
ty	wiesz	you know
on / ona / ono	wie	he / she / it knows
my	wiemy	we know
wy	wiecie	you know
oni / one	wiedzą	they know

Use wiedzieć for knowing information: Wiem, gdzie jest hotel “I know where the hotel is.” Knowing or being acquainted with a person or place normally uses znać, not wiedzieć; this contrast matters even at an early level.

chcieć — to want

Person	Form	Example meaning
ja	chcę	I want
ty	chcesz	you want
on / ona / ono	chce	he / she / it wants
my	chcemy	we want
wy	chcecie	you want
oni / one	chcą	they want

To say that someone wants to do something, place an infinitive after chcieć: Chcę zjeść “I want to eat.” The second verb stays in its dictionary form. Be careful to distinguish chcę “I want,” with ę, from chce “he/she wants.”

brać — to take

Person	Form	Example meaning
ja	biorę	I take / I am taking
ty	bierzesz	you take / are taking
on / ona / ono	bierze	he / she / it takes
my	bierzemy	we take / are taking
wy	bierzecie	you take / are taking
oni / one	biorą	they take / are taking

The stem alternates between bior- in biorę, biorą and bierz- in the other forms. Learn the pair biorę—bierzesz; the rest then becomes much easier to organise.

Negatives and questions

To make a present-tense verb negative, put nie directly before it. The verb itself does not change:

• Wiem. — “I know.”
• Nie wiem. — “I don’t know.”
• Jemy mięso. — “We eat meat.”
• Nie jemy mięsa. — “We don’t eat meat.”

In the final pair, mięso changes to mięsa. This is a change of case (the form a noun takes according to its job in the sentence), caused by negation. It does not change the conjugation of jeść.

Many yes/no questions use the question word czy at the beginning: Czy chcesz kawę? “Do you want coffee?” In conversation, intonation alone can also mark a question: Chcesz kawę? Polish does not need an extra verb equivalent to English “do” or “does.”

Examples in Context

Polish	English	Note
Idę do sklepu.	I’m going to the store.	iść, 1st person singular
Dokąd idziecie?	Where are you going?	Addressing more than one person
Dzieci idą do szkoły.	The children are going to school.	A noun subject takes the 3rd-person plural form
Jesz mięso?	Do you eat meat?	A natural question without czy
Teraz jemy obiad.	We’re eating lunch now.	The adverb teraz makes the current meaning clear
Oni nie jedzą ryb.	They don’t eat fish.	Negative form with nie
Wiem to.	I know it.	No subject pronoun is needed
Czy wiecie, gdzie jest dworzec?	Do you know where the station is?	Question addressed to several people
Nie wiemy, co robić.	We don’t know what to do.	Common negative pattern
Chcę herbatę, proszę.	I’d like tea, please.	Literally “I want”; proszę softens the request
Co chcesz zjeść?	What do you want to eat?	chcieć followed by an infinitive
Marta chce wrócić do domu.	Marta wants to return home.	Singular noun subject: 3rd person singular
Bierzemy taksówkę.	We’re taking a taxi.	brać, 1st person plural
Zawsze biorę parasol.	I always take an umbrella.	Habitual action
Dlaczego bierzesz mój telefon?	Why are you taking my phone?	brać, 2nd person singular

Common Mistakes

Using the infinitive as the present form

• Wrong: Ja iść do domu.
• Right: Idę do domu.
• Why: An ordinary present-tense statement needs a conjugated verb. Iść is the infinitive “to go”; idę agrees with the implied subject “I.”

Copying one stem into every form

• Wrong: Oni jeszą obiad.
• Right: Oni jedzą obiad.
• Why: The third-person plural of jeść is jedzą. Its stem differs from jem and jesz.

Confusing chcę and chce

• Wrong: Anna chcę kawę.
• Right: Anna chce kawę.
• Why: Chcę means “I want,” while chce is the third-person singular form used with Anna, on, or ona. Polish nasal ę changes both spelling and grammatical meaning here.

Using wiedzieć for acquaintance

• Wrong: Wiem Annę.
• Right: Znam Annę.
• Why: Wiedzieć means to know a fact or have information. Znać means to know or be familiar with a person, place, work, or subject.

Adding English-style “do” to questions

• Wrong: Robisz chcesz kawę?
• Right: Chcesz kawę? or Czy chcesz kawę?
• Why: Polish forms this question with intonation or czy. It does not insert an auxiliary equivalent to English “do.”

Treating iść as the general verb for every kind of going

• Wrong: Idę autobusem do pracy codziennie.
• Better: Jeżdżę autobusem do pracy codziennie.
• Why: Iść normally describes going on foot in one direction on a particular occasion. Regular travel by vehicle uses a different motion verb, here jeździć.

Usage Notes

Polish normally omits subject pronouns when the context and verb ending make the subject clear. Chcemy jeść sounds neutral for “We want to eat.” My chcemy jeść puts contrast or emphasis on “we,” perhaps as opposed to another group. English speakers often overuse pronouns because English requires them.

Although chcieć directly corresponds to “want,” a bare Chcę kawę can sound more direct than English “I’d like a coffee.” In service situations, add proszę or use a fuller polite expression: Poproszę kawę is a very common way to order. The conjugation remains useful, but politeness depends on the whole phrase.

The present forms in this article can describe something happening now or a repeated/general action. Jem obiad may mean “I’m eating lunch,” while Często jem tutaj means “I often eat here.” Context and time expressions do the work that the English simple-versus-continuous contrast often does.

Pronunciation deserves attention alongside spelling. In standard pronunciation, final ę in forms such as idę, chcę, and biorę often has only weak nasality, while ą in idą, chcą, and biorą remains distinct. Do not drop the written accents: chce and chcę are different forms.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following contrasts at A1, but they explain forms you will soon meet.

Motion verbs are more specific than English “go”

Polish distinguishes how and in what pattern someone moves. Iść is imperfective and typically means going on foot in one direction now or on a particular occasion. Chodzić is used for repeated, habitual, or multidirectional movement on foot: Chodzę do pracy pieszo “I walk to work / I go to work on foot regularly.” For travel by vehicle, common partners are jechać for one particular journey and jeździć for repeated travel.

These verbs have aspect partners

Aspect is the way Polish presents an action as ongoing/repeated or as a complete whole. The five verbs here are imperfective, so their forms can function as a true present tense. Common perfective partners include pójść “go/set off once,” zjeść “eat up,” dowiedzieć się “find out,” and wziąć “take once.” Perfective verbs do not have a present-time meaning: forms such as wezmę usually refer to a completed future action, “I’ll take.” Chcieć does not fit into one simple everyday aspect pair in quite the same way.

This distinction also clarifies Chcę jeść versus Chcę zjeść. The first focuses on eating as an activity or need—“I want to eat.” The second presents eating as a bounded event, often “I want to eat/have [something].” At beginner level, both are best learned through complete phrases.

Objects can change form

These verbs often take an object (the person or thing affected by the action): you eat something, know something, want something, or take something. Polish nouns change case according to the construction. After many negated verbs, an object that would be accusative changes to genitive: Jem zupę “I eat soup,” but Nie jem zupy “I don’t eat soup.” This noun change belongs to the case system; it does not create a new verb form.

Practice Tips

1. Learn three anchor forms per verb. Recite idę—idziesz—idą, jem—jesz—jedzą, and so on. These expose the important stem changes; then add the two plural forms in the middle.
2. Build short personal sentences. Say one true sentence with each verb every day: Idę do pracy. Jem śniadanie. Wiem, gdzie jest klucz. Chcę odpocząć. Biorę telefon. Replace one detail each time.
3. Transform, rather than only reread. Change Chcę herbatę into “we,” a negative, and a question: Chcemy herbatę. Nie chcemy herbaty. Czy chcecie herbatę? This practises endings, pronoun omission, and sentence type together.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Personal Pronouns — learn how ja, ty, on/ona, my, wy, and oni/one identify the person matched by each verb form.