Conjugation I (-ę, -esz) in Polish

In Brief

Polish Conjugation I is identified by the first two present-tense forms: -ę for “I” and -esz for informal singular “you.” Its basic set is -ę, -esz, -e, -emy, -ecie, -ą, as in piszę, piszesz, pisze, piszemy, piszecie, piszą. Learn a verb’s “I” and “you” forms together, because the stem often changes and cannot always be predicted from the infinitive.

Overview

A conjugation is a pattern of verb forms that changes according to the subject—the person or thing performing the action. English mostly uses the same present form in “I write,” “we write,” and “they write.” Polish gives each person and number its own ending. The single word piszemy already means “we write” or “we are writing.”

This pattern appears early at A1 because it covers useful verbs such as pisać “to write,” pracować “to work,” kupować “to buy,” and gotować “to cook.” Polish has no separate present continuous tense like English. Depending on context, piszę can therefore mean either “I write” or “I am writing.”

Polish textbook labels for conjugation classes are not completely uniform. Here, Conjugation I means the class named from the forms -ę, -esz. The concept examples also contain czytać “to read” and mieszkać “to live,” but these actually follow the -am, -asz pattern: czytam, czytasz and mieszkam, mieszkasz. They are useful present-tense verbs, but they should not be used as models for the endings taught here.

How It Works

The basic ending set

Polish verbs agree in person—speaker, listener, or somebody else—and number, meaning singular or plural. Unlike Polish past-tense forms, present-tense forms do not change for gender.

Person	Pronoun	Ending	pisać “to write”
1st person singular	ja (I)	-ę	piszę
2nd person singular	ty (you, informal)	-esz	piszesz
3rd person singular	on, ona, ono (he, she, it)	-e	pisze
1st person plural	my (we)	-emy	piszemy
2nd person plural	wy (you, plural)	-ecie	piszecie
3rd person plural	oni, one (they)	-ą	piszą

The pronouns are shown to make the pattern clear, but they are often omitted. The ending normally identifies the subject:

• Piszę list. — I am writing a letter.
• Piszemy list. — We are writing a letter.
• Piszą list. — They are writing a letter.

Use a subject pronoun when it adds contrast or emphasis: Ja pracuję tutaj, a ona pracuje w domu means “I work here, while she works at home.”

Do not build the forms directly from the infinitive

The infinitive is the dictionary form, such as pisać “to write.” The present stem is the part to which present endings attach. With pisać, that stem appears as pisz-:

Form	Structure
piszę	pisz- + -ę
piszesz	pisz- + -esz
pisze	pisz- + -e
piszemy	pisz- + -emy
piszecie	pisz- + -ecie
piszą	pisz- + -ą

The change from s in pisać to sz in piszę is a stem alternation, a sound and spelling change inside the verb’s base. This is why simply removing -ać does not produce the right form. For practical study, memorize at least three items: pisać — piszę — piszesz.

The common -ować → -uj- pattern

Many verbs ending in -ować have a highly useful and predictable present pattern. Remove -ować, add -uj-, and then use the personal endings. In the finished forms, it is easiest to remember chunks such as -uję, -ujesz, -uje.

Person	pracować “to work”	kupować “to buy”
ja	pracuję	kupuję
ty	pracujesz	kupujesz
on/ona/ono	pracuje	kupuje
my	pracujemy	kupujemy
wy	pracujecie	kupujecie
oni/one	pracują	kupują

The letter j belongs to the present stem. Do not drop it: pracuesz is not correct; write pracujesz.

This pattern includes many internationally recognizable verbs, although their spelling is Polish: telefonować → telefonuję, organizować → organizuję, and studiować → studiuję. Recognition helps with meaning, but the Polish endings still have to be learned.

Negatives and questions

Negation is straightforward: put nie directly before the verb. The conjugated ending does not change.

• Nie pracuję dzisiaj. — I am not working today.
• Ona nie kupuje kawy. — She is not buying coffee.

For a yes/no question, Polish can place czy at the beginning, or use question intonation in conversation. English needs “do” in “Do you work here?”; Polish does not add an auxiliary verb:

• Czy pracujesz tutaj? — Do you work here?
• Pracujesz tutaj? — You work here? / Are you working here?

Present meaning and verbal aspect

At beginner level, translate according to context rather than searching for a separate “am/is/are” form. Gotuję obiad may mean “I cook dinner” or “I am cooking dinner.”

There is one important limit. Polish verbs have aspect, a distinction between viewing an action as ongoing/repeated and viewing it as a completed whole. Many perfective verbs use present-looking endings but refer to the future. You do not need to master that contrast for this A1 pattern; just avoid assuming that every form with these endings necessarily describes present time.

Examples in Context

Polish	English	Note
Piszę list.	I am writing a letter.	1st person singular; pronoun omitted
Co piszesz?	What are you writing?	Informal singular “you”
Ona pisze wiadomość.	She is writing a message.	3rd person singular
Piszemy do przyjaciół.	We write to our friends.	1st person plural
Piszecie bardzo wyraźnie.	You all write very clearly.	Plural “you”
Studenci piszą test.	The students are taking a written test.	3rd person plural
Pracuję tutaj.	I work here.	-ować → -uję
Czy pracujesz w sobotę?	Are you working on Saturday?	Yes/no question with czy
Marek pracuje w domu.	Marek works at home.	Named subject
Pracujemy od poniedziałku do piątku.	We work from Monday to Friday.	Habitual present
Kupujecie chleb?	Are you buying bread?	2nd person plural
Oni kupują warzywa na targu.	They buy vegetables at the market.	3rd person plural
Dziś gotuję zupę.	Today I am cooking soup.	Action in progress
Nie gotujesz mięsa.	You do not cook meat.	nie before the verb
Czytasz książkę, a ja piszę e-mail.	You are reading a book, while I am writing an email.	Contrast: czytasz is an -asz form, not -esz

Common Mistakes

Using one ending for every subject

• Wrong: My piszę list.
• Right: My piszemy list. / Piszemy list.
• Why: The verb must agree with my “we,” so it needs the first-person plural ending -emy.

Treating the infinitive as a ready-made stem

• Wrong: Ja pisaę po polsku.
• Right: Piszę po polsku.
• Why: Pisać uses the present stem pisz-. Learn pisać — piszę — piszesz together instead of attaching an ending mechanically.

Dropping j in an -ować verb

• Wrong: Pracuesz tutaj?
• Right: Pracujesz tutaj?
• Why: These verbs have -uj- in the present stem: pracuj- + -esz.

Putting every -ać infinitive in this class

• Wrong: czytę, czytesz; mieszkę, mieszkesz
• Right: czytam, czytasz; mieszkam, mieszkasz
• Why: An infinitive ending does not reliably identify the present conjugation. These two verbs belong to the -am, -asz pattern, even though pisać belongs to -ę, -esz.

Copying English “do” or “be” into the Polish present

• Wrong: Czy robisz pracujesz tutaj? for “Do you work here?”
• Right: Czy pracujesz tutaj?
• Why: The one conjugated Polish verb carries the present-tense and person information. Polish does not insert a counterpart of English auxiliary “do” here.

Confusing -e and -ę

• Wrong: Ona piszę list.
• Right: Ona pisze list.
• Why: Piszę with ę means “I write”; pisze with e is third-person singular. The nasal mark is grammatically meaningful even when casual pronunciation makes the contrast harder to hear.

Usage Notes

Polish normally omits ja, ty, my, and wy when the ending makes the subject obvious. Repeating them in every sentence is understandable, but it can sound overemphatic. English requires “I” in “I work”; Polish naturally says simply Pracuję.

The third-person pronouns are also omitted when context is clear, but a noun or pronoun may be needed to identify the person: Anna pracuje w banku. Mieszka w Krakowie. After Anna has been introduced, the second sentence can omit ona.

Polish wy is plural “you.” Formal address normally uses pan for a man, pani for a woman, and plural forms such as państwo. These take third-person verb forms: Czy pani pracuje tutaj? literally follows the grammar of “Does the lady work here?” but naturally means “Do you work here?” in polite address.

Word order is flexible, but neutral sentences often place the subject before the verb when the subject is stated. Moving an item can highlight it: Dzisiaj pracuję w domu emphasizes “today,” while W domu pracuję tylko w piątki emphasizes “at home.” The conjugation itself stays the same.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but they explain why memorizing only six endings is not enough for every verb.

First, different verbs in the -ę, -esz class show different stem alternations. Compare pisać — piszę — piszesz, brać — biorę — bierzesz (“take”), and nieść — niosę — niesiesz (“carry”). The shared person pattern is recognizable, but the stem vowels and consonants vary. A dictionary or vocabulary card should therefore record the first- and second-person singular forms.

Second, the imperative—the form used for commands—often draws on the same present stem: pisać → piszesz → pisz! “write!” and pracować → pracujesz → pracuj! “work!” This connection becomes useful when you study commands, but imperative formation has additional rules and irregularities.

Third, aspect can change the time reference. Kupuję książkę with imperfective kupować normally means “I am buying a book.” The perfective partner kupić has kupię, kupisz and normally points to a completed future event: Kupię książkę jutro means “I’ll buy a book tomorrow.” Notice that the partner also belongs to a different present-form pattern, -ę, -isz. Aspect pairs often require learning both the meaning and the conjugation of each verb separately.

Finally, the school-style labels “Conjugation I, II, III, IV” may differ between learning resources. The safest portable description is the pair of diagnostic forms: say that pisać is an -ę, -esz verb, while czytać is an -am, -asz verb. The actual forms matter more than the number assigned to the class.

Practice Tips

1. Learn three forms per verb. Write vocabulary as pisać — piszę — piszesz, not just pisać. From the “you” form, much of the rest of this pattern becomes easier to build.
2. Drill in person pairs. Say piszę/piszemy, piszesz/piszecie, and pisze/piszą. Pairing singular and plural makes the person relationships easier to hear and remember.
3. Describe one real day. Make six short sentences with pracować, kupować, gotować, and pisać. Then turn two into negatives with nie and two into questions with czy. Check that you did not add an English-style “do” or “be.”

Related Concepts

• Next step: Question Formation — use conjugated verbs in questions with czy, question words, or intonation.
• Later development: Past Tense — Polish past forms add distinctions of gender as well as person and number.
• Later development: Reflexive Verbs — combine a conjugated verb with the particle się.
• Later development: Imperative Mood — build commands, often using a stem related to the present-tense forms.