Participles in Polish

In Brief

Polish participles are forms made from verbs. Adjectival participles describe a noun and change like adjectives: piszący student (“a student who is writing”), przeczytana książka (“a book that has been read”). Adverbial participles connect two actions by the same subject and never change: Czytając, usnąłem (“While reading, I fell asleep”), Przeczytawszy list, odpowiedział (“Having read the letter, he replied”).

Overview

A participle is a verb-based form used as an adjective or as an adverbial expression. An adjective describes a noun—a person, thing, place, or idea. An adverbial expression tells you more about an action, for example when or under what circumstances it happens. Polish calls these two groups imiesłowy przymiotnikowe and imiesłowy przysłówkowe.

At B2, participles let you make sentences more compact and connect ideas precisely. Instead of student, który pisze list (“the student who is writing a letter”), you can say student piszący list. Instead of Kiedy czytałem, usnąłem (“While I was reading, I fell asleep”), you can say Czytając, usnąłem. You will see these structures often in news, instructions, academic prose, and formal writing. Some adjectival forms are also completely ordinary in conversation: zamknięte drzwi (“a closed door”) and interesujący film (“an interesting film”).

The key background concept is verbal aspect: an imperfective verb presents an action as ongoing, repeated, or without focus on its endpoint; a perfective verb presents it as a complete event. Aspect strongly affects which participle is possible. English forms such as “writing,” “written,” and “having read” offer a useful first comparison, but English does not show the same agreement endings and does not impose exactly the same aspect rules.

How It Works

The four main patterns

Type	Polish name	Typical form	Main meaning	Changes for agreement?
Present active adjectival	imiesłów przymiotnikowy czynny	piszący	doing the action	Yes
Passive adjectival	imiesłów przymiotnikowy bierny	czytany, przeczytany	undergoing the action	Yes
Present adverbial	imiesłów przysłówkowy współczesny	czytając	while doing	No
Past adverbial	imiesłów przysłówkowy uprzedni	przeczytawszy	having done	No

The concept also includes active forms in -ły, such as zwiędły (“wilted”) and przybyły (“arrived/newly arrived”). These are discussed separately because they are less freely productive than -ący forms.

Present active adjectival participles: -ący

These forms identify someone or something performing an ongoing or characteristic action. They are normally formed from imperfective verbs. A practical method is to start from the third-person plural present form, remove final -ą, and add -ący:

Infinitive	“They” form	Participial stem	Example
pisać (to write)	piszą	pisząc-	piszący autor (an author who is writing)
czytać (to read)	czytają	czytając-	czytająca kobieta (a woman who is reading)
robić (to do)	robią	robiąc-	robiące dziecko (a child doing something)
pracować (to work)	pracują	pracując-	pracujący rodzice (working parents)

The dictionary form ends in masculine singular -ący, but the participle declines like an adjective. Agreement means matching the noun in gender, number, and case (the ending that marks a noun’s role in the sentence).

Noun pattern	Participial ending	Example
masculine singular	-ący	czekający pasażer
feminine singular	-ąca	czekająca pasażerka
neuter singular	-ące	czekające dziecko
masculine-personal plural	-ący	czekający pasażerowie
other plural	-ące	czekające osoby / autobusy

Other cases take ordinary adjective endings: z czekającym pasażerem (“with the waiting passenger”), dla czekającej kobiety (“for the waiting woman”), o pracujących studentach (“about the students who are working”). A reflexive verb keeps się: uczyć się → uczący się, as in studenci uczący się polskiego.

Passive adjectival participles: -ny, -ony, -ty

A passive participle describes the person or thing affected by an action. It is generally available from transitive verbs, meaning verbs that can act on a direct object (the person or thing directly affected): someone writes a letter, opens a window, or washes a car.

Infinitive	Participle	Example
czytać	czytany	czytany artykuł (an article being read / that is read)
przeczytać	przeczytany	przeczytany artykuł (an article that has been read)
zrobić	zrobiony	zrobione zadanie (a completed task)
otworzyć	otwarty	otwarte okno (an open/opened window)
umyć	umyty	umyty samochód (a washed car)

The suffix is not reliably predictable from the infinitive alone, especially with stem changes. Learn the participle together with the verb rather than inventing it from a single ending rule. Once formed, it declines exactly like an adjective: podpisany dokument, podpisana umowa, podpisane dokumenty.

Aspect changes the viewpoint. An imperfective participle may describe an action in progress, repeated, or viewed without a completed endpoint: książka czytana przez uczniów (“a book being/read by the students”). A perfective participle normally presents a resulting completed action: książka przeczytana przez uczniów (“a book read through by the students”). The performer, when stated, commonly follows przez plus the accusative case: list napisany przez Olgę (“a letter written by Olga”).

Many passive participles function as normal adjectives and may describe a resulting state: Drzwi są zamknięte can mean “The door is closed.” Context determines whether the emphasis is on the action or the state.

Active adjectival forms in -ły

Forms such as zwiędły (“wilted”), dojrzały (“mature”), przybyły (“arrived”), and zmarły (“deceased”) refer to a state resulting from an earlier action or change. They agree like adjectives: zwiędły kwiat, zwiędła róża, zwiędłe kwiaty.

Unlike -ący, this pattern is not a free way to turn every verb into “someone who did X.” Many -ły forms are established lexical items and can feel fully adjectival. When unsure, use a relative clause with który: człowiek, który przyjechał (“the person who arrived”), not a guessed participle.

Present adverbial participles: -ąc

The present adverbial participle expresses an action simultaneous with the main action. It is formed from an imperfective verb, usually by taking the third-person plural present form and replacing final -ą with -ąc:

• czytają → czytając (“while reading”)
• idą → idąc (“while going/walking”)
• pracują → pracując (“while working”)
• uczą się → ucząc się (“while learning”)

It does not agree with gender or number. Czytając stays the same whether the subject is a man, woman, child, or group.

Most importantly, its understood subject must be the same as the subject of the main clause:

• Wracając do domu, spotkałam Annę. = “While returning home, I met Anna.” The speaker both returned and met Anna.
• Wracając do domu, spotkaliśmy Annę. = “While returning home, we met Anna.” The group performed both actions.

The participial phrase is normally separated from the main clause by a comma, whether it comes first or later.

Past adverbial participles: -wszy, -łszy

The past adverbial participle presents a completed action that happened before the main action. It is normally made from a perfective verb:

• przeczytać → przeczytawszy (“having read”)
• zrobić → zrobiwszy (“having done”)
• dowiedzieć się → dowiedziawszy się (“having found out”)
• zjeść → zjadłszy (“having eaten”)
• przyjść → przyszedłszy (“having come”)

Forms in -wszy and -łszy involve stem patterns that are best learned from reliable dictionary forms. Like -ąc, they never decline, require the same subject as the main clause, and are set off by a comma.

The order is built into the meaning: Zamknąwszy okno, wyszedł means that he first closed the window and then left. If the actions overlap, use -ąc instead.

Examples in Context

Polish	English	Note
Przy stole siedzi mężczyzna piszący list.	A man writing a letter is sitting at the table.	Present active, masculine singular
Rozmawiałam z kobietą pracującą w muzeum.	I spoke with a woman who works at the museum.	The participle takes instrumental feminine -ącą
To kurs dla osób uczących się polskiego.	This is a course for people learning Polish.	Reflexive się is retained
Na biurku leżała przeczytana książka.	A book that had been read was lying on the desk.	Perfective passive, feminine singular
Dokument został podpisany przez dyrektora.	The document was signed by the director.	Passive construction with przez
Codziennie sprawdzamy towary dostarczane do sklepu.	Every day we check the goods delivered to the shop.	Imperfective passive suggests a repeated process
W wazonie stały zwiędłe kwiaty.	There were wilted flowers in the vase.	Established -ły adjective-like form
Czytając, usnąłem.	While reading, I fell asleep.	Same subject; masculine speaker shown by usnąłem
Idąc do pracy, słucham podcastów.	While walking to work, I listen to podcasts.	Simultaneous habitual actions
Ucząc się nowych słów, zapisuj całe zdania.	When learning new words, write down whole sentences.	Same implied “you” in both parts
Przeczytawszy list, odpowiedział.	Having read the letter, he replied.	Completed prior action
Zrobiwszy zakupy, wróciliśmy do domu.	Having done the shopping, we returned home.	Perfective -wszy form
Dowiedziawszy się o zmianie, od razu zadzwoniła.	Having learned about the change, she called immediately.	Reflexive past adverbial participle

Common Mistakes

Using a perfective verb for simultaneous -ąc

• Wrong: Przeczytając książkę, robiłem notatki.
• Right: Czytając książkę, robiłem notatki.
• Why: The note-taking happened during the reading, so Polish uses the imperfective verb czytać and the form czytając. For a completed earlier reading, use przeczytawszy.

Giving the participial phrase a different subject

• Wrong: Idąc ulicą, zaczął padać deszcz.
• Right: Kiedy szedłem ulicą, zaczął padać deszcz.
• Why: The grammatical subject of the original main clause is deszcz, which would absurdly imply that the rain was walking. Use a full clause when the subjects differ.

Forgetting adjective agreement

• Wrong: przeczytany książka
• Right: przeczytana książka
• Why: Passive and active adjectival participles match their noun. Książka is feminine singular, so the nominative form ends in -a.

Trying to make a passive form from any verb

• Wrong: spany człowiek for “a person who slept”
• Right: człowiek, który spał or, depending on meaning, śpiący człowiek
• Why: Spać is intransitive: it does not take a direct object that undergoes sleeping. A passive participle is therefore not available in the intended sense.

Treating -ły as a universal past-active ending

• Wrong: inventing a form whenever English uses “who has …”
• Right: use a known form such as zwiędły or a relative clause such as student, który wrócił
• Why: Active -ły forms are restricted and often lexicalized. They are not as freely productive as present active -ący forms.

Omitting the comma

• Wrong: Wracając do domu spotkałem Pawła.
• Right: Wracając do domu, spotkałem Pawła.
• Why: An adverbial participial phrase is separated from the main clause by a comma.

Usage Notes

Adjectival participles vary greatly in everyday frequency. Forms like interesujący (“interesting”), męczący (“tiring”), zamknięty (“closed”), and przygotowany (“prepared”) are ordinary vocabulary. Longer participial modifiers are more typical of writing: wniosek złożony przez klienta (“the application submitted by the client”). In speech, Polish often prefers a relative clause with który: klient, który czeka rather than czekający klient.

Present adverbial forms in -ąc occur in both careful speech and writing, especially when the relationship between two simultaneous actions is clear. Past forms in -wszy/-łszy are noticeably more formal, literary, or narrative. In relaxed conversation, Po przeczytaniu listu odpowiedział (“After reading the letter, he replied”) or Kiedy przeczytał list, odpowiedział (“When he had read the letter, he replied”) is often more natural.

English speakers should not automatically translate every English “-ing” form with -ąc or -ący. English “-ing” can serve many roles. “Reading is useful” names an activity and is normally Czytanie jest pożyteczne, using a verbal noun. “The woman reading by the window” calls for kobieta czytająca przy oknie. “While reading, she drank tea” calls for Czytając, piła herbatę.

Word order can shift for emphasis, but agreement does not. Compare pracujący student and student pracujący wieczorami. A short, defining modifier often appears before the noun; a longer phrase commonly follows it.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Participles can blur the line between a verbal event and a lasting quality. Malowane drzwi may mean doors currently being painted or doors characterized as painted, while pomalowane drzwi strongly points to a completed result. Similarly, otwarte okno often names a state (“an open window”), even though otwarty historically and grammatically relates to the action of opening. Aspect, context, and established usage work together.

Negation also depends on function and modern spelling conventions. Adjectival participles are generally written with nie as one word: nieprzeczytana książka, niepracujący rodzic. A clear contrast may motivate separate spelling, as in nie czytany, ale tylko przeglądany tekst (“a text not read but only skimmed”). Adverbial participles take separate nie: nie wiedząc (“not knowing”), nie przeczytawszy (“not having read”).

A participial modifier can preserve the verb’s dependents—the words required or licensed by that verb. In student piszący list do profesora, list remains the object of piszący, and do profesora completes the meaning. This makes participles useful for compressing relative clauses, but too many nested modifiers can make prose difficult. Clear Polish often prefers a full clause when the phrase becomes long or when its subject could be misunderstood.

The finer stylistic and punctuation choices of -ąc and -wszy/-łszy forms are developed further at C1. At that stage, focus not only on forming them but also on deciding when a subordinate clause sounds clearer and more natural.

Practice Tips

1. Build aspect pairs together. Write sets such as czytać → czytający/czytając/czytany and przeczytać → przeczytany/przeczytawszy. Mark which forms are active, passive, simultaneous, or prior.
2. Expand one participle through agreement. Start with pracujący student and change the noun: pracująca studentka, pracujące dziecko, pracujący studenci. Then place each phrase in another case.
3. Rewrite in both directions. Change kobieta, która czeka na autobus into kobieta czekająca na autobus, and Zjadłszy obiad, wyszedł into Kiedy zjadł obiad, wyszedł. This trains both recognition and natural alternatives.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Verbal Aspect — explains the imperfective/perfective contrast that controls many participial forms.
• Next steps: Adverbial Participles — develops -ąc, -wszy, and -łszy forms, their style, and same-subject rule in greater depth.