polski · A2 · grammar · 4 minutes
Past-tense gender and personal endings
Build Polish past forms from an l-participle plus gender/category and person.
Understand the choice
Past morphology carries information English places in pronouns. The same lexical verb signals speaker gender and group category, so subject omission remains possible.
Core rule: Singular past marks masculine/feminine/neuter; plural contrasts masculine-personal -li with non-masculine-personal -ły; first/second persons add endings.
Notice it in context
Wczoraj czytałam, a moi bracia czytali.
Yesterday I (woman) was reading, and my brothers were reading.
Czytałam combines feminine -ła with first-person -m; czytali marks masculine-personal brothers.
Czytałeś czy czytałaś ten artykuł?
Did you (man/woman) read this article?
Two ty forms expose gender contrast.
Kobiety pracowały, a mężczyźni odpoczywali.
The women worked, and the men rested.
Pracowały is non-masculine-personal; odpoczywali masculine-personal.
What to remember
- Neuter singular past is used for ono/dziecko: dziecko spało.
- Mixed adult-gender groups normally take masculine-personal -li.
Common trap: Do not choose -li for every plural group.