To be or to have?

Alicja — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:50:46 +0000

These are probably the most important verbs in any language: to be and to have, or, in Polish: być and mieć. It’s good to memorize their conjugation in the very beginning of your studies, especially since być is an irregular verb! Here they are, conjugated in the present tense:

	być to be	mieć to have
ja I	jestem	mam
	Jestem tutaj. I’m here.	Mam trzydzieści lat. I’m thirty years old.
ty you, singular	jesteś	masz
	Gdzie jesteś? Where are you?	Ile masz lat? How old are you?
on / ona / ono he / she / it	jest	ma
	Kim ona jest? Who is she?	On ma duży dom. He has a big house.
my we	jesteśmy	mamy
	Jesteśmy z Polski. We are from Poland	Mamy dużo do zrobienia. We have a lot to do.
wy you, plural	jesteście	macie
	Skąd jesteście? Where are you from?	Co macie w tej torbie? What do you have in that bag?
oni / one they	są	mają
	Gdzie oni są? Where are they?	One mają dużo planów. They have a lot of plans.

Some notes on the use of personal pronouns:

On and ona, meaning he and she respectively, can refer to all kinds of nouns, not only people. It depends on the gender of the noun: masculine nouns are referred to as on, and feminine nouns as ona. Ono refers to neuter nouns. It’s the same principle as in, for example, German: every noun has a gender (even though there’s nothing inherent in a potato that makes it masculine) and has to be referred to with the appropriate personal pronun.

Oni (they) refers to a group of people including at least one male. If the group consists of a dozen women and one man, you’ll still have to use oni to talk about them. Which sucks from the feminist point of view.

One (they) refers either to a group of people consisting exclusively of females, or to a group of inanimate beings. Which sucks even more when you realize women are put in the same category as things and stuff.

Bits of Polish » pronouns

To be or to have?

Some notes on the use of personal pronouns: