Feminine Singular Past

Level 2

In Polish, the past tense changes based on gender. For a single female subject (I, you, or she), verbs end in -łam, -łaś, or -ła.

How It Works

To form the feminine singular past, you typically take the infinitive (e.g., czytać), remove the -ć to find the stem (czyta-), and add the feminine endings. For verbs ending in -ść, -źć, or -c (like nieść, kłaść, or móc), you must use their specific past tense stem rather than just removing the infinitive ending. A helpful tip is that this hidden stem is usually identical to the 1st-person singular present tense stem (e.g., ja niosę → nios-ła; ja kładę → kład-ła; ja mogę → mog-ła). However, this tip doesn't work for verbs that gain an 'n' or 'j' in the present tense (e.g., biec → biegnę / biegła, znaleźć → znajdę / znalazła), or for highly irregular verbs.

Endings:

  • (Ja): -łam (e.g., czytałam)
  • (Ty): -łaś (e.g., czytałaś)
  • Ona / Pani / Noun: -ła (e.g., czytała)

Because the endings -łam and -łaś inherently encode both person and gender, subject pronouns like ja and ty are usually dropped in natural speech. Note: While a feminine inanimate noun like wieża (tower) is translated as "it" in English, it still uses these feminine endings (wieża stała). Do not confuse this with the neuter past used for ono.

Important Stem Changes:

  • e → a shift: This applies broadly to almost all verbs ending in -eć. For example, mieć (to have) becomes miała, widzieć (to see) becomes widziała, and chcieć (to want) becomes chciała.
  • Nasal vowel shift (ą/ę): Verbs ending in -ąć show a systematic alternation. While the masculine singular uses ą (wziął), the feminine singular (along with neuter and plural) uses ę (wzięła).
  • Base vowel retention: Verbs like móc (to be able) have a base vowel o and a hidden consonant (mogła). While the masculine singular shifts this to ó (mógł), the feminine singular retains the regular base o.
  • Verbs in -nąć: Many verbs in this group drop the suffix entirely in the past tense (e.g., marznąć → marzła). However, verbs that keep the suffix undergo the ą/ę shift (e.g., zamknąć → zamknęła).
  • Irregular stems: High-frequency verbs like iść (to go) change significantly (e.g., szła). This also applies to its common prefixed forms (e.g., pójść → poszła, przyjść → przyszła).

This pattern is used for any feminine noun, including people (kobieta), animals (kotka), or feminine objects.

Examples (5)

  1. Już to zrobiłam.

    I already did it.

    Word by Word: Already it [I-fem] did.

    The ending -łam indicates the speaker is female. The pronoun 'ja' is dropped because the verb ending already shows who is speaking.

  2. Czy widziałaś ten film?

    Did you see this movie?

    Word by Word: Did [you-fem] see this film?

    The ending -łaś is used when asking a single woman a question.

  3. Ona czytała książkę przez całe popołudnie.

    She was reading a book all afternoon.

    Word by Word: She read book through whole afternoon.

    The 3rd person feminine singular uses the suffix -ła.

  4. Moja siostra poszła do kina.

    My sister went to the cinema.

    Word by Word: My sister went to cinema.

    The verb 'iść' has an irregular past stem 'sz-'; for feminine subjects, it becomes 'szła' or 'poszła'.

  5. Wzięła klucze i wyszła.

    She took the keys and went out.

    Word by Word: Took [she] keys and went out.

    Note the 'ę' in 'wzięła', which is characteristic of feminine forms for verbs ending in -ąć.

Common Mistakes

  • A woman using the masculine ending.

    Different MeaningZrobiłem to.
    Zrobiłam to.

    'Zrobiłem' is what a man says. A woman uses the ending that matches her own gender, so she says 'zrobiłam'. Notice that the pronoun 'ja' is naturally dropped.

  • Using the masculine nasal vowel 'ą' in feminine forms.

    Ona wziąła.
    Ona wzięła.

    Verbs with nasal vowels usually switch from 'ą' in the masculine to 'ę' in the feminine singular past.

  • Confusing feminine singular with feminine plural.

    Ona robiły.
    Ona robiła.

    The ending -ły is for plural (they), while -ła is for singular (she).

How It Connects

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Feminine Singular PastLevel 2

Learn This First

Learn Past Tense, Three Noun Genders before Feminine Singular Past.