Podawać / podać is dać ("give") with the prefix po-, and it is the everyday verb of the table: "pass me the salt," "serve dinner," "hand it over." Two things make it worth its own page. First, it conjugates in the slightly irregular dać-family — podaję / podają in the imperfective, podam / podadzą in the perfective future (the same -dzą surprise as dadzą, jedzą, wiedzą). Second, it heads a couple of idioms an English speaker can't predict: podać rękę ("shake hands / offer a hand") and the legalese podać do sądu ("sue"). Like dać, it is the model ditransitive: dative recipient + accusative thing.
Aspect partner
- podawać — imperfective: serving as a process or habit, passing repeatedly ("be serving," "serve [at a restaurant]," "be handing round").
- podać — perfective: a single completed act of passing/handing/serving ("pass, hand, serve [once]").
So Kelner podaje obiad ("the waiter is serving lunch," ongoing → podawać), but Podaj mi sól ("pass me the salt," one act → podać).
Imperfective podawać — present
Like dawać, the -aw- of the infinitive drops out in the present and the stem becomes podaj- (podawać → podaję, never podawaję).
| Person | podawać (present) | English |
|---|---|---|
| ja | podaję | I pass / serve / am passing |
| ty | podajesz | you pass |
| on / ona / ono | podaje | he / she / it passes |
| my | podajemy | we pass |
| wy | podajecie | you (pl.) pass |
| oni / one | podają | they pass |
Past: podawałem / podawałam, podawał / podawała / podawało, podawaliśmy / podawałyśmy, podawali / podawały. Imperative: podawaj! ("keep passing / serve!"). Contemporary adverbial participle: podając ("while passing"). Passive participle: podawany ("served, being served").
W tej restauracji podają najlepsze pierogi w mieście.
At this restaurant they serve the best pierogi in town. (habitual → podawać)
Zupę podaje się gorącą.
Soup is served hot. (impersonal się + podawać)
Perfective podać — simple future (the irregular podadzą)
Podać is perfective, so its present-shaped conjugation carries future meaning. The 3pl podadzą is the irregular form — the -dzą of dadzą / jedzą / wiedzą.
| Person | podać (simple future) | English |
|---|---|---|
| ja | podam | I'll pass / hand |
| ty | podasz | you'll pass |
| on / ona / ono | poda | he / she / it will pass |
| my | podamy | we'll pass |
| wy | podacie | you (pl.) will pass |
| oni / one | podadzą | they'll pass |
The template is exactly dać's: -m / -sz / — / -my / -cie / -dzą, shared with wiem and jem. The trap is the 3pl: by analogy with the singular poda you might expect podają — but podają is the imperfective present (podawać); the perfective future is podadzą.
Past: podałem / podałam, podał / podała / podało, podaliśmy / podałyśmy, podali / podały. Passive participle: podany ("passed, served, given [a figure, a date]").
Podasz mi pilota? Leży obok ciebie.
Will you pass me the remote? It's right next to you.
Goście dopiero przyszli, zaraz podadzą przystawki.
The guests have just arrived, they'll serve the starters shortly. (3pl → podadzą)
Imperative — podaj!, the everyday table command
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ty | podaj! | pass! / hand me! |
| my | podajmy! | let's serve / pass! |
| wy | podajcie! | pass! (pl.) |
| formal | niech pan(i) poda / proszę podać | please pass, sir/madam |
Podaj mi… ("pass me…") is the model request at any Polish table. To soften it, add proszę: Podaj mi, proszę, chleb ("pass me the bread, please").
Podaj mi, proszę, masło.
Pass me the butter, please. (the everyday polite table request)
Government: dative recipient + accusative thing
Podać inherits the ditransitive frame of dać: a dative indirect object (to whom) and an accusative direct object (what). The frame is podać [komuś: dative] [coś: accusative].
Podaj babci szklankę wody.
Pass Grandma a glass of water. (babci = dative, szklankę = accusative)
Podałem mu rękę na powitanie.
I offered/shook his hand in greeting. (mu = dative, rękę = accusative)
For the full dative system, see the dative indirect object.
The idioms English can't predict
1. podać rękę — shake hands / offer one's hand (literally "hand over the hand"):
Podali sobie ręce i usiedli do rozmowy.
They shook hands and sat down to talk. (podać sobie ręce = shake hands)
2. podać do sądu — to sue (literally "submit to court"); the recipient/target sits in the accusative with do + genitive for the court:
Jeśli nie zapłacą, podam ich do sądu.
If they don't pay, I'll take them to court.
3. podawać / podać in the "state, give [information]" sense — give a figure, a reason, a date:
Proszę podać imię, nazwisko i datę urodzenia.
Please state your first name, surname and date of birth. (form-filling register)
Common Mistakes
❌ W tej restauracji podadzą świetne ryby.
Incorrect (for a general habit) — recurring service is the imperfective podają; podadzą is the one-time perfective future.
✅ W tej restauracji podają świetne ryby.
This restaurant serves great fish.
❌ Podaj mi sól, proszę. — Podam tobie.
Incorrect — the dative recipient pronoun is the short ci, not 'tobie' in this neutral position; use the clitic ci.
✅ Podaj mi sól, proszę. — Już ci podaję.
Pass me the salt, please. — I'm passing it to you.
❌ Podaj mi ten talerz na stół. Oni podają zaraz obiad.
Mismatch — to refer to one future serving, use the perfective podadzą; podają is the ongoing/habitual form.
✅ Podaj mi ten talerz na stół. Zaraz podadzą obiad.
Pass me that plate to the table. They'll serve lunch in a moment.
❌ Podałem mu ręka.
Incorrect — the thing handed over is accusative (rękę), not nominative (ręka).
✅ Podałem mu rękę.
I shook his hand.
❌ Oni podają mnie do sądu w przyszłym tygodniu.
Incorrect — a single future action ('next week') needs the perfective future podadzą; podają is the imperfective present (a habit/ongoing).
✅ Oni podadzą mnie do sądu w przyszłym tygodniu.
They'll take me to court next week.
Key Takeaways
- podawać (impf, podaję, podają) for serving/passing as a process or habit; podać (pf) for one completed act.
- podać simple future: podam, podasz, poda, podamy, podacie, podadzą — the 3pl podadzą is the irregular -dzą form; don't confuse it with the imperfective present podają.
- Past podał / podała, virile podali vs non-virile podały; imperative podaj! ("pass / hand me").
- Government: dative recipient + accusative thing — podaj mi sól is the model.
- Idioms: podać rękę ("shake hands"), podać do sądu ("sue"), podać dane ("give one's details").
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- dawać / dać — to giveA2 — Full reference for dawać (impf) / dać (pf), 'to give': present daję/dajesz…, future dam/dasz…/dadzą, imperative daj — with the dative+accusative double object and the must-know idioms dać radę ('manage') and da się ('it can be done').
- Dative: The Indirect ObjectA2 — The dative's core meaning — the recipient or beneficiary of giving, telling, showing, helping — and the surprise that Polish verbs like pomagać, dziękować, wierzyć and ufać take the dative where English uses a direct object.
- At the Restaurant and CaféA2 — Ordering in Polish — Poproszę… as the polite order (with the case logic behind Poproszę kawę vs Poproszę kawy), Co państwo polecają?, Czy mogę prosić o rachunek?, Dla mnie…, Czy jest…?, Płacę kartą / gotówką — plus why chcę ('I want') sounds too blunt and the partitive genitive softens an order.
- brać / wziąć — to takeB1 — Full reference for the suppletive pair brać (impf) / wziąć (pf), 'to take': present biorę/bierzesz…, future wezmę/weźmiesz…, past wziął/wzięła with the ą/ę nasal swap, imperatives bierz / weź — the canonical triple-stem verb.
- The Simple Future (Perfective)A2 — Perfective verbs have no present tense, so their present-looking conjugation means the future: zrobię = 'I'll do/finish', kupię = 'I'll buy', przeczytam = 'I'll read through' — built with no auxiliary at all.