Participles in Polish

Overview

Polish has five types of participles, divided into adjectival participles (which decline like adjectives) and adverbial participles (which are invariable). At the B2 level, understanding participles is important for reading literature, formal texts, and expressing complex temporal relationships concisely.

Adjectival participles include: present active (-ący: piszący -- writing), past passive (-ny/-ty: napisany -- written). Adverbial participles include: present (-ąc: pisząc -- while writing) and past (-wszy/-łszy: napisawszy -- having written). These forms compress entire subordinate clauses into single words or phrases, making them a hallmark of literary and formal Polish.

In everyday conversation, adverbial participles are less common, but adjectival participles are used regularly (especially passive participles in constructions like zamknięty -- closed).

How It Works

Adjectival participles

Type	Formation	Example
Present active	imperfective stem + -ący	piszący (writing)
Past passive	verb stem + -ny/-ty/-ony	napisany (written), zamknięty (closed)

Adverbial participles

Type	Formation	Example
Present	imperfective stem + -ąc	pisząc (while writing)
Past	perfective past stem + -wszy	napisawszy (having written)

Adjectival participles decline

Piszący declines like an adjective: piszący mężczyzna, pisząca kobieta, piszące dziecko.

Adverbial participles are invariable

Pisząc list, myślałem o tobie. (While writing a letter, I thought about you.)

Examples in Context

Polish	English	Note
piszący list	writing a letter	Present active participle
przeczytana książka	a read book	Past passive participle
Czytając, usnąłem.	While reading, I fell asleep.	Present adverbial
Przeczytawszy list, odpowiedział.	Having read the letter, he replied.	Past adverbial
zamknięte drzwi	closed door	Passive participle as adj.
śpiące dziecko	sleeping child	Active participle as adj.
Idąc ulicą, spotkałem go.	Walking down the street, I met him.	Present adverbial
gotowane jajko	boiled egg	Passive participle
biegnący pies	running dog	Active participle
Dowiedziawszy się, zadzwoniłem.	Having found out, I called.	Past adverbial

Common Mistakes

Using perfective verb for present participle

• Wrong: napisząc (from perfective napisać)
• Right: pisząc (from imperfective pisać)
• Why: Present adverbial participles are formed only from imperfective verbs.

Wrong subject for adverbial participle

• Wrong: Czytając książkę, zadzwonił telefon. (the phone wasn't reading)
• Right: Czytając książkę, usłyszałem telefon. (I was reading and I heard)
• Why: The subject of the adverbial participle must be the same as the subject of the main clause.

Not declining adjectival participles

• Wrong: piszący kobieta
• Right: pisząca kobieta
• Why: Adjectival participles agree in gender, number, and case like regular adjectives.

Usage Notes

Adverbial participles (especially past -wszy) are literary and formal. In speech, subordinate clauses (kiedy przeczytałem...) are preferred. Adjectival participles, especially passive ones, are common in all registers: zamknięty, otwarty, gotowany, smażony.

Practice Tips

1. Practice identifying participles in Polish texts. Note which are adjectival and which are adverbial.
2. Convert participle phrases to full clauses and vice versa: Czytając = Kiedy czytałem.
3. Learn common passive participles as vocabulary: zamknięty, otwarty, gotowany, napisany, zrobiony.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Verbal Aspect -- aspect determines which participles can be formed
• Next steps: Adverbial Participles -- detailed study of -ąc and -wszy forms