Active Adjectival Participles — Polish Grammar

Active adjectival participles are words that function as adjectives but are derived from verbs. They describe a noun by the action it is currently performing. In English, these correspond to the "-ing" form of a verb when used as a description, such as "the sleeping cat" or "the running water".

These forms bridge the gap between actions and descriptions, allowing you to characterize a person or object by what they are doing.

Formation

To form an active adjectival participle, you generally start with the third person plural form of the verb in the present tense (the "they" form). You remove the final letter and add the suffix .

(they write) becomes (writing)
(they play) becomes (playing)
(they eat) becomes (eating)

Because these participles describe an ongoing process or state, they can only be formed from imperfective verbs. You cannot form an active participle from a perfective verb (an action that is already completed).

Agreement and Declension

Although they come from verbs, these words behave grammatically exactly like adjectives. This means they must agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case.

The basic endings in the nominative case are:

for masculine singular
for feminine singular
for neuter singular
for masculine personal plural
for other plurals

Widzę biegnącego psa.
I see a running dog.
To jest bardzo interesująca książka.
This is a very interesting book.
Patrzę na bawiące się dzieci.
I am looking at the playing children.

In the first example, is in the accusative case to match .

Replacing Relative Clauses

One of the primary uses of active participles is to shorten sentences. Instead of using a full clause with "who" or "which" (e.g., "the man who is reading"), you can use the participle ("the reading man"). This makes speech and writing more concise.

Chłopiec, który czeka na przystanku.
The boy who is waiting at the stop.
Chłopiec czekający na przystanku.
The boy waiting at the stop.

Word Order

The position of the participle relative to the noun depends on the complexity of the phrase:

Before the noun: If the participle is used alone as a simple description, it usually precedes the noun.

Szczekający pies obudził sąsiadów.
The barking dog woke up the neighbors.

After the noun: If the participle is part of a longer phrase with extra details (objects or adverbs), it is often placed after the noun.

Pies szczekający na listonosza jest głośny.
The dog barking at the postman is loud.

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