Using of tenses and aspects

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Contents

1. The category of aspect
2. The category of tense

The category of aspect

The category of the aspect is a characteristic feature of Slavic languages and it is difficult for non-Slavs. It is worth knowing that the category of the aspect also exists e.g. in English although Polish aspects are completely different than those in English.

Like in other Slavic languages, there exist imperfective (pisał, pisze, będzie pisał) and perfective (napisał, napisze) aspects in Polish. In the same time, 4 aspects occur in English: neutral (he writes), perfect (he has written), continuous (he is writing) and perfect continuous (he has been writing). The English perfect does not correspond to Polish perfective despite their similar names.

Here are the list of verbal forms which have both aspects:

• infinitive – pisać : napisać;
• its subjunctival form – pisać by : napisać by;
• passive participle – pisany : napisany;
• gerund – pisanie : napisanie;
• impersonal form with -no, -to – pisano : napisano;
• its subjunctival form – pisano by : napisano by;
• Past Tense – pisał : napisał;
• future tense – będzie pisał (= będzie pisać) : napisze;
• subjunctive, 1st form – pisałby : napisałby;
• subjunctive, 2nd form – byłby pisał : byłby napisał;
• imperative – pisz : napisz.

The following forms have the imperfective aspect only:

• contemporary adverbial participle – pisząc;
• active participle – piszący;
• Present Tense – pisze.

The following forms have the perfective aspect only:

• anterior adverbial participle – napisawszy.

The above list is not complete as it does not contain impersonal forms with się (pisało się, napisało się, będzie się pisało = będzie się pisać, napisze się, pisałoby się, napisałoby się, byłoby się pisało, byłoby się napisało; pisze się), the medial and the passive voices.

Imperfective verbs mean:

• present activities (the Present Tense is always imperfective), as well as past or future activities;
• actions in progress, just going states and activities, with significant course;
• activities posing the background for other (perfective) activities, e.g. czytałem książkę, gdy zadzwonił telefon ‘I was reading the book when the telephone rang’;
• simultaneous activities, e.g. będę czytać książkę, podczas gdy brat będzie pisać list ‘I will be reading the book while brother will be writing the letter’;
• durative activities, lasting through some time, e.g. krzyczał, kichałem, będzie drgać, tupać, cały wieczór czytałem książkę ‘he was shouting, I was sneezing, he will be vibrating, to stamp, all the evening I was reading a book’;
• motions without a strict aim, ex. chodzę ‘I am walking here and there’, nosi ‘he carries’;
• multiple (iterative) activities, e.g. dopisywać, wychodził, strzelaliśmy, wieczorami czytałem książki ‘to insert to the text, he was leaving, we were shooting, in the evenings I was reading books’;
• nonresultative activities, only heading towards some purpose, e.g. będę pisał list ‘I will be writing the letter’;
• continuous states, e.g. będę stać, czerwieni się ‘I will be standing, he/she is blushing’.

Perfective verbs mean:

• past or future, but not present activities – an activity which is happening now cannot be ended, so it cannot be perfective;
• states and activities which were or will be ended, with insignificant course, treated as a whole by the speaker;
• activities which happen at the moment, e.g. krzyknął, kichnąłem, drgnie, tupnąć ‘he shouted, I sneezed, he will stir, to stamp’;
• single-time activities, e.g. dopisać, wyszedł, strzeliliśmy ‘to insert to the text, he left (e.g. for a walk), we shot’;
• actions whose goal has already been achieved (sometimes with difficulty), e.g. przeczytałem, napiszę, doczytała się ‘I have read, I will write, she finished reading (and found what she had sought);
• reasons for the state, e.g. pokochała, zrozumiesz, poznamy ‘she came to love, you will understand, we will get to know’;
• the beginning of the activity or the state, e.g. stanę, zaczerwienił się, zakwitły ‘I will stand up, he reddened, they blossomed’;
• the end of the activity, e.g. dośpiewaj, dosiedział ‘sing to the end!, he sat to the end’;
• activities executed in many places, on many objects or by many subjects at the same time, e.g. powynosił, popękają ‘he carried out (many things), they will break up (in many places)’;
• actions or states which last some time, e.g. postoję, pobył, poczytam ‘I will stand for a little time, he was (there) for some time, I will read’.

As can be seen from the above, states and activities lasting for some time can be expressed by means of both imperfective and perfective verbs, without more difference: cały dzień leżał w łóżku ‘he was in bed all day long’ means nearly the same as cały dzień przeleżał w łóżku.

As a rule, every single verb is either imperfective or perfective. However there exist:

• bi-aspectual verbs, acting as both imperfective and perfective, e.g. aresztować, awansować, darować, frunąć, inspirować, kanonizować, mianować, ofiarować, proklamować, rzutować, zionąć ‘arrest, be promoted, present (give), inspire, canonize, appoint, offer, proclaim, project’;
• mono-aspectual imperfective verbs, not having perfective equivalents (imperfectiva tantum), e.g. być, mieć, musieć, móc, umieć, obowiązywać, polegać, potrafić, rozmawiać, uczęszczać, sąsiadować ‘
  be, have, have to, be able, can, be in force, rely, be able, talk, attend, neighbour’;
• mono-aspectual perfective verbs, not-having imperfective equivalents (perfectiva tantum), e.g. dojrzeć, oniemieć, osierocić, osłupieć, owdowieć, poczytać, pozbierać, zmówić ‘ripen, boggle, orphan, be paralyzed, widow, read for a while, pick up, say (a prayer)’.

Remark: since the category of the aspect is tied with the category of the time, the following comparison of Polish and English tenses may be big help for students of Polish in mastering of the category of the aspect.

The category of tense

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Main page – Polish grammar

2008-02-21