I spent this weekend immersing myself further in the nuances
of Polish grammar. Upon my first introduction to verbs earlier this summer, I
was quite relieved to learn that there are only three verb tenses, compared to
the myriad of simple, perfect, and what have you tenses that exist in English.
Yet, I soon discovered that each verb falls into one of four classes, which
determine conjugated forms, based on person and number. There’s no easy way to
tell to which class a verb belongs, as in any language, there are always
exceptions to the rules. Also, the infinitive, or root, of the verb can undergo
changes that make it look like a completely different word. Okay, I accepted
that and dealt with it.
Recently, I started noticing some “discrepancies” among the
web resources that I’ve been using, such as two different verbs having the
exact same meaning. I expressed my frustration to my co-worker (who by chance
has a degree in the Russian language) and she proceeded to explain to me all
about aspect in Slavic languages. So there are three verb tenses, right? Add to
that imperfective and perfective aspect, which express actions in progress or
with an unknown end and actions that have been or are scheduled to be completed,
respectively. This means that there are actually two words for every verb, some
of which don’t even resemble each other. And, verbs that indicate motion have
two imperfective forms for on-going (determinate) and frequentative
(indeterminate) action. At least these still have only one perfective verb.
As a result, I passed the weekend reading up on these topics
and familiarizing myself with all of the possible forms of the verbs that I
have learned thus far. The next challenge will be using them properly in
sentences!
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