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B2 · Upper-intermediate · Lesson 27
Word formation & prefixes
Bolt a prefix on a verb and unlock a new word.
Polish builds verbs by adding prefixes to a base. Each prefix adds a shade — out, through, again, a little — and almost always makes the verb perfective. Learn the prefixes once and dozens of verbs open up from each root.
| Prefix on pisać | Verb | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| na- | napisać | write (finish) |
| pod- | podpisać | sign |
| prze- | przepisać | rewrite / copy |
| za- | zapisać | note down / save |
| wy- | wypisać | write out |
- •Most prefixes also make the verb perfective.
- •The root gives the action; the prefix gives the spin.
Quick check
Adding a prefix usually makes a verb…
pisać → napisać becomes perfective.
'to sign' (from pisać):
pod- + pisać = podpisać (to sign).
Practice
Now produce the answers yourself — type them, choose the form, or build the sentence.
pisać + na- =
'to sign' =
'note down' (za- + pisać):
Adding a prefix usually makes a verb…
Say: I have to sign the document.
What this lesson covered
Polish builds a huge amount of its vocabulary by bolting prefixes onto a base verb, and this lesson used pisać (to write) to show the system. The same root yields napisać (to write down), podpisać (to sign), przepisać (to copy out), zapisać (to save or note), opisać (to describe), wpisać (to type in) and dopisać (to add in writing). Each prefix carries a consistent flavour — pod- “under/sign,” prze- “across/re-do,” o- “about/around” — that recurs on other verbs too, so learning it once helps you decode dozens of new words. This is one of the most powerful shortcuts in the language: instead of memorising unrelated vocabulary, you learn a root and a set of prefixes and generate a whole family of meanings. The habit worth building is to spot the base verb inside an unfamiliar word and reason out the prefix's effect.