The to form of verbs

So far we've learnt the I, (informal) you, he and she forms of verbs like Mam, Masz and Ma or Chcę, Chcesz and Chce. Now we'll get to know 'to' forms of verbs and why they are essential in Polish

We use the 'to' form of verbs in English in sentences like this:

I want to go
I want to have a house

This is exactly the same in Polish.

I want to go - Chcę iść
I want to have a house - Chcę mieć dom

Almost all 'to forms' of verbs end in 'ć'. In fact if you find yourself looking at a word that ends in 'ć' you are probably looking at the 'to form' of a verb!

'iść' more literally means 'to go by foot'. There is a separate verb of 'going by other means' like by bike, by car, by bus. We'll come to that later. For the moment you can use 'iść' for everything and everyone will understand you.

Let's pick up some new vocab to pratice this with. Something from each gender!

Chemist - Apteka
Supermarket - Supermarket
Town - Miasto

Do you remember the Polish words for 'from' and 'to' that we covered in an earlier lesson?

From -
To -

And we also covered that these words 'bounce' us into the genetive case. That means, in a sentence like 'I want to go to the supermarket', supermarket has to be genetive because it is after 'to'

Have a go at thinking it out by breaking down the sentence and bouncing 'supermarket' into genetive:

I want to go to the supermarket -

In Polish to say 'I want to go home' we say 'I want to go to house'. Remembering the genetive bounce how would you say this.

I want to go home -

Try thinking out the sentences below. Remember break the sentences down into pieces, say each piece and them move onto the next piece:

I want to go to the chemist -
I want to go to the supermarket -
I like to go to town -
I don't want to go -
Why do you want to go? -

Heads up!

In Polish it is more common to be specific with verbs so

NOT: I want to have a coffee

But ....

I want to drink a coffee
I want to buy a coffee
etc.

However for basic communication, until you have learnt more verbs, 'to have' is fine and will be understood by everybody.

To go and to have

Sort these into phrases which use 'to go' and phrases which use 'to have'

Drag and drop all the dark blue boxes to their correct locations

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

Think out the Polish

Practice the 'to' form of verbs with these handy phrases. Remember when to get 'bounced' into the Genetive case.

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

I don't know where to go	q3\|Nie wiem gdzie iść

I know what to have	q3\|Wiem co mieć

I want to go to the chemist	q3\|Chcę iść do apteki

I want to go to the supermarket	q3\|Chcę iść do supermarketu

I like to go to town	q3\|Lubię iść do miasta

Why do you want to go?	q3\|Dlaczego chcesz iść?

I don't want to go	q3\|Nie chcę iść

I don't want to have a problem	q3\|Nie chcę mieć problemu

Do you want to have a new problem	q3\|Chcesz mieć nowy problem?

I know that he wants to go home	q3\|Wiem, że on chce iść do domu

Do you know that she wants to go to the old chemist?

Do you want to go to the new supermarket?

From time to time he likes to go to the old town

I want to have a good computer	q3\|Chcę mieć dobry komputer

I think that you want to have a scandal	q3\|Myślę, że chcesz mieć skandal

I want to have time	q3\|Chcę mieć czas

Do you think that she wants to go home?

Why do you want to go to my bank?

He wants to have your pizza	q3\|On chce mieć twoją pizzę

He likes to go to your chemist	q3\|On lubi iść do twojej apteki