Other Plural Past

Level 3

In the Polish past tense, plural verbs have two forms. The nonvirile plural (rodzaj niemęskoosobowy) is the 'default' for everything that isn't a group of men: women, children, animals, and objects.

How It Works

The nonvirile plural covers feminine and neuter nouns and non-personal masculine nouns. Unlike the masculine-personal plural, which requires a male human to be present, the nonvirile form is used for all other plural categories. With coordinated personal subjects, a named male person normally gives masculine-personal agreement: mama i tata poszli. However, grammatical form matters; a single collective noun or the noun dzieci is not classified by inspecting the people it denotes.

1. Conjugation Pattern
To form the nonvirile plural, take the past stem and add the hard marker -ł- followed by the personal endings -y, -yśmy, or -yście. A foundational example is the irregular verb być (to be):

  • My (we): -łyśmy (e.g., byłyśmy, robiłyśmy). The pronoun my does not change based on gender; only the verb ending shows that 'we' refers to a non-male-human group (compared to the virile robiliśmy).
  • Wy (you pl.): -łyście (e.g., byłyście, robiłyście). Like my, the pronoun wy stays the same, while the verb ending indicates gender.
  • One (they): -ły (e.g., były, robiły). This pronoun is used for nonvirile subjects, contrasting with the virile pronoun oni.

2. Vowel Alternations
Many common verbs have an underlying -e- in their stem (visible in infinitives like jeść, widzieć, nieść). This -e- shifts to -a- or -o- in the nonvirile plural because it is followed by the hard dental consonant -ł-. In contrast, the masculine-personal (virile) plural uses the soft consonant -l-, which blocks the shift and retains the original -e-:

  • e to a: jadły (non-male-human subjects ate) vs. jedli (men ate)
  • e to a: widziały (non-male-human subjects saw) vs. widzieli (men saw)
  • e to a: miały (non-male-human subjects had) vs. mieli (men had) from mieć
  • e to o: niosły (non-male-human subjects carried) vs. nieśli (men carried)

3. The 'Hard' Past Marker
The past tense suffix itself alternates between the hard -ł- (used in the nonvirile plural) and the soft -l- (used in the virile plural). The nonvirile plural keeps the hard -ł- and the vowel -y-. This is clearly seen in verbs like iść (to go):

  • Nonvirile: szły (they went - women/animals/objects)
  • Virile: szli (they went - men)

4. Grammatical Gender vs. Biology
It is important to remember that this is based on grammatical gender. Even if a group consists of male animals (e.g., psy - dogs), they take the nonvirile form because they are not male humans. Similarly, the word dziecko (child) is grammatically neuter, so its plural dzieci always takes the nonvirile form dzieci były, regardless of the children's actual gender. Furthermore, masculine inanimate nouns take the nonvirile plural; for example, you must say telefony dzwoniły (phones rang), not dzwonili, because they are not human males.

5. Word Stress Exception
In Polish, word stress normally falls on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable. However, for the first and second person plural past tense forms (ending in -łyśmy and -łyście), the stress shifts to the antepenultimate (third-to-last) syllable. For example, you pronounce them as ro-BI-ły-śmy and wi-DZIA-ły-ście, not ro-bi-ŁY-śmy.

Boys, Children and Siblings: Compare Chłopcy jedli (The boys ate) with Dzieci jadły (The children ate). Dzieci keeps non-masculine-personal plural agreement even if all those children are boys. Dziewczęta jadły (The girls ate) has the same plural pattern. Rodzeństwo jadło (The siblings ate) is different: rodzeństwo is a neuter singular collective noun, so its verb is singular, not a nonvirile plural.

Examples (5)

  1. Kobiety rozmawiały o pracy.

    The women were talking about work.

    Word by Word: Women talked about work.

    Since 'kobiety' (women) is a feminine plural noun, the verb uses the nonvirile ending '-ły'.

  2. Dzieci bawiły się w ogrodzie.

    The children were playing in the garden.

    Word by Word: Children played themselves in garden.

    Even though children are people, the noun 'dzieci' is grammatically neuter and always triggers the nonvirile form.

  3. Moje psy uciekły przez bramę.

    My dogs escaped through the gate.

    Word by Word: My dogs escaped through gate.

    Animals, even if male, always take the nonvirile plural form in the past tense.

  4. Książki leżały na stole.

    The books were lying on the table.

    Word by Word: Books lay on table.

    Inanimate objects (masculine-inanimate, feminine, or neuter) always use the nonvirile plural.

  5. Czytałyśmy tę książkę wczoraj.

    We (a group of women) read this book yesterday.

    Word by Word: Read [we-nonvirile] this book yesterday.

    The ending '-łyśmy' indicates that the 'we' refers to a group containing no men.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the nonvirile form for mixed groups of people.

    Mama i tata poszły do kina.
    Mama i tata poszli do kina.

    If there is at least one male human in the group (like 'tata'), you must use the masculine-personal plural form '-li' instead of the nonvirile '-ły'.

  • Assuming 'children' (dzieci) takes the virile form.

    Dzieci jedli obiad.
    Dzieci jadły obiad.

    Because dziecko is a neuter noun, its plural 'dzieci' is grammatically nonvirile and requires the '-ły' ending and the 'a' stem vowel.

  • Forgetting the 'e' to 'a' vowel shift in the nonvirile plural.

    Kobiety jedły kolację.
    Kobiety jadły kolację.

    Many verbs that have an 'e' in the masculine-personal plural (jedli, mieli) must shift to 'a' in the nonvirile plural (jadły, miały).

How It Connects

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Other Plural PastLevel 3

Learn This First

Learn Past Tense, Three Noun Genders before Other Plural Past.