Secondary Imperfectives

In Polish, the aspect system usually works in pairs. However, when you add a prefix to a base verb to change its meaning (e.g., adding za- to pisać to get zapisać 'to write down/record'), the new verb is almost always perfective. To express 'writing down' as an ongoing process or a habit, Polish creates a secondary imperfective. Crucially, the secondary imperfective always keeps the prefix to maintain that specific meaning.

Important: Empty Prefixes
If a prefix only makes the verb perfective without changing its core meaning (an "empty prefix"), you usually do not form a secondary imperfective. You simply revert to the base verb. For example, napisać (to write - PF) pairs with pisać (to write - IMPF), and zrobić (to do - PF) pairs with robić (to do - IMPF). Words like napisywać or zrobywać are not used in standard Polish.

1. The Aspectual Chain
Think of it as a three-step process:

• Base Imperfective: pisać (to write - general)
• Prefixed Perfective: zapisać (to write down - completed once)
• Secondary Imperfective: zapisywać (to be writing down - ongoing/habitual)

2. Morphological Changes
Creating these verbs often involves specific suffixes and internal stem changes:

• Suffixes: The most common are -ywać (e.g., wykonywać) and -iwać (e.g., oszukiwać).
• The -ować → -owywać Pattern: Verbs ending in -ować often form their secondary imperfective by expanding to -owywać. Example: odbudować (PF) → odbudowywać (SI).
• The -awać Suffix: A significant group uses -awać (e.g., dawać, wstawać, sprzedawać). In the present tense, the -aw- changes to a -j- before adding the endings (e.g., daję, dajesz).
• The o/ó → a Shift: If the perfective stem has an 'o' or 'ó', it often changes to 'a'. Example: powtórzyć (PF) → powtarzać (SI), zaprosić (PF) → zapraszać (SI).
• A Lexical Exception: Learn otworzyć → otwierać (open) separately. Other tworzyć-family verbs commonly use o→a, as in przetworzyć → przetwarzać. Do not treat o→ie as a productive rule for all these verbs.
• Consonant Mutations: The final stem consonant often changes (e.g., ś → sz, rz → r, ź → ż (written zi→ż when comparing forms before vowels), ć → c), which almost always accompanies the vowel shifts. Example: zaprosić (PF) → zapraszać (SI), otworzyć (PF) → otwierać (SI).
• Nasal Vowel Shifts: Verbs with nasal vowels (ą or ę) in the root often shift to in, yn, or ym. Example: zacząć (PF) → zaczynać (SI), nadąć (PF) → nadymać (SI).
• The -jąć → -jmować Pattern: Verbs ending in -jąć form a distinct sub-pattern ending in -jmować. Example: zdjąć (PF) → zdejmować (SI), przyjąć (PF) → przyjmować (SI).
• Suffix Replacement and Root Expansion: Verbs ending in -nąć with short or consonant-heavy roots often replace this suffix with -ać and insert a y into the root. Example: zamknąć (PF) → zamykać (SI).

3. Conjugation
Secondary imperfectives follow three main patterns:

• Verbs ending in -ywać/-iwać follow the -uję, -ujesz pattern (e.g., zapisuję, zapisujesz).
• Verbs ending in -awać follow the -ę, -esz pattern but change the -aw- to -j- (e.g., wstaję, wstajesz).
• Verbs ending in -ać (like zamykać, otwierać, powtarzać) follow the -am, -asz pattern (e.g., zamykam, zamykasz).

The Productive -ać Pattern: Many secondary imperfectives replace perfective -ić/-yć with -ać while changing the stem: zaprosić → zapraszać, powtórzyć → powtarzać. Another common family introduces ie and changes the adjacent consonant: wybrać → wybierać (choose), wyprać → wypierać (wash), umrzeć → umierać (die). These are learned stem alternations; the spelling ie cannot simply be inserted at an arbitrary position.