Polish present tense: -ę, -esz verbs (pisać, iść)

Piszę list. Idę do domu. Pracuję w Warszawie.I write a letter. I am going home. I work in Warsaw.

After the large -am, -asz group, the next big group of Polish verbs takes -ę, -esz. These verbs are just as common (pisać to write, iść to go, brać to take, pracować to work), but the stem of many of them changes a little, so it is easier to learn each verb together with its ja form.

Quick shortcut: with verbs whose stem stays the same, such as pisać, pić and pracować, removing -ę from the ja form leaves the stem, and the other persons add -esz, -e, -emy, -ecie, -ą to it: piszę → piszesz, pisze, piszemy, piszecie, piszą. Verbs such as iść, brać and jechać change their stem, as described below.

In English the verb hardly changes (I write, you write, we write) and the pronoun is required. In Polish each person has its own ending, so the pronoun is usually left out: Piszę. is already "I write".

How the endings work

Here is pisać (to write). The stem pisz- stays the same in every form:

Notice three things:

• The endings are -ę, -esz, -e, -emy, -ecie, -ą. The letters ę and ą are the nasal vowels from The Polish alphabet and sounds.
• Compared with the -am, -asz group, the 1st person singular ends in -ę (not -m), the 3rd person singular ends in -e (not -a), and the 3rd person plural ends in -ą (not -ją): pisze and czyta, piszą and czytają.
• pisze serves on, ona, ono and also polite address with pan and pani; piszą serves oni, one and państwo (see Formal address: pan / pani / państwo).

When the stem changes

With many verbs of this group the stem is not the same in every form. A helpful pattern: the ja form and the oni form share one stem, and the other four forms share another.

For iść the stem is id- in idę, idą and idzi- in the other forms. For brać it is bior- and bierz-, and for jechać it is jad- and jedz-. Verbs such as pisać and pić keep one stem throughout. That is why a quick look at the infinitive is not enough: learning iść – idę and brać – biorę together gives the whole pattern.

Verbs in -ować

A large group of verbs ends in -ować. They are regular and easy to predict: -ować is replaced by -uję, -ujesz, -uje, -ujemy, -ujecie, -ują.

Other verbs that follow the same rule are studiować (to study at a university), gotować (to cook) and podróżować (to travel).

A few examples in sentences:

• Anna pisze e-mail. (Anna is writing an email.)
• Idziemy do domu. (We are going home.)
• Dzieci piją mleko. (The children are drinking milk.)
• Kupujemy chleb. (We are buying bread.)

The nouns after the verbs have case endings of their own (do domu, w banku). They are covered in Going somewhere: do + genitive, na / w + accusative and The accusative case: inanimate objects and feminine nouns. At this stage it is enough to recognise them next to the verb.

One present tense for "now" and "usually"

Polish has no separate "be + -ing" form. The same present form says both what happens regularly and what is happening right now:

• Piszę codziennie. (I write every day.)
• Piszę teraz. (I am writing now.)
• Pracuję w banku. (I work in a bank.)

Words such as codziennie (every day), teraz (now) and zawsze (always) make the meaning clear when it matters.

Leaving out the pronoun

Because each person has its own ending, the pronoun is often left out: Piszę., Idziemy do domu., Pracujecie w Krakowie? It can be added for contrast or emphasis: Ja piszę, a ty czytasz. (I am writing, and you are reading.)

The 3rd person forms pisze and piszą do not show who is meant, so a noun or pronoun usually stays unless the previous sentence has made it clear: Anna pisze., Oni idą do szkoły. More about the subject pronouns is in Personal pronouns.

Negatives and questions

For a negative, nie stands before the verb, as a separate word:

• Nie piszę. (I am not writing. / I don't write.)
• Anna nie pracuje w banku. (Anna doesn't work in a bank.)
• Nie idziemy do domu. (We are not going home.)

A yes/no question can start with czy, or simply rise in intonation at the end:

• Czy idziesz do szkoły? (Are you going to school?)
• Idziesz do szkoły? (Are you going to school?)

Polish has no word like English do here, so there is no extra helper in either the question or the negative. More about the two patterns is in Negation with "nie" and Questions: czy and question words.

Telling the groups apart

The ja form is the quickest clue to which group a verb belongs to:

• -am → the -am, -asz group: czytam, czytasz, czyta (see Present tense: -am, -asz verbs).
• -ę after a stem such as pisz-, id-, bior-, pracuj- → this group: piszę, piszesz, pisze.
• -ę in verbs such as robić and mówić (robię, robisz, robi) → a third pattern, because the 2nd person ends in -isz / -ysz (see Present tense: -ę, -isz / -ysz verbs).

A few very frequent verbs, such as mieć (to have) and jeść (to eat), do not fit these patterns neatly and are covered in Present tense: irregular verbs.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Ja piszesz. → ✅ Ja piszę. (-esz is only for ty)
• ❌ Anna piszę. → ✅ Anna pisze. (the 3rd person singular ends in -e)
• ❌ Oni piszają. → ✅ Oni piszą. (the 3rd person plural of this group ends in -ą, not -ają)
• ❌ Ona idę. → ✅ Ona idzie. (the stem changes: idzi-)
• ❌ Pracam w banku. → ✅ Pracuję w banku. (-ować verbs take -uję, not -am)
• ❌ Piszę nie. → ✅ Nie piszę. (nie goes before the verb)

Quick check

Which form fits each gap?

1. Ja ___ list. (pisać)
2. Anna ___ do szkoły. (iść)
3. My ___ w banku. (pracować)
4. Wy ___ kawę? (brać)
5. Oni ___ do Krakowa. (jechać)
6. Ty ___ wodę. (pić)

Key takeaways

• The -ę, -esz pattern: -ę, -esz, -e, -emy, -ecie, -ą added to the stem: piszę, piszesz, pisze, piszemy, piszecie, piszą.
• With many verbs the stem changes: the ja and oni forms share one stem and the other persons another (idę, idziesz, idą; biorę, bierzesz, biorą), so it helps to learn each verb with its ja form.
• Verbs in -ować are regular: -ować is replaced by -uję, -ujesz, -uje, -ujemy, -ujecie, -ują.
• One present form means both "I write" and "I am writing"; the ending shows the person, so the pronoun is usually left out.
• Negative: nie before the verb. Question: czy at the start, or rising intonation.
• Compared with -am, -asz: -ę instead of -am, -e instead of -a, -ą instead of -ają.