This page is a consolidating reference for the aspect pair wracać (imperfective) / wrócić (perfective), "to come back, to return, to go back." It is the verb you use for a person heading home or back to a place. The two points to drill at A2 are the destination construction do + genitive (wracam do domu, "I'm going home") and the spelling ó that appears in the perfective (wrócę, wróć, wrócił). We also recap how this differs sharply from oddać ("give a thing back") — a distinction English collapses under one word, "return."
The aspect pair at a glance
wracać is imperfective: ongoing, repeated, or habitual returning ("I'm on my way back," "I come back every day"). wrócić is perfective: a single completed return ("I got back," "I'll be back"). As with all Polish aspect pairs, the imperfective has a present tense, while the perfective has no present — its present-tense forms carry future meaning.
Codziennie wracam do domu o szóstej.
I come home at six every day.
Wrócę o piątej.
I'll be back at five.
wracać (imperfective)
A regular -am / -asz (first-conjugation) verb. Present tense:
| Person | Present |
|---|---|
| ja | wracam |
| ty | wracasz |
| on / ona / ono | wraca |
| my | wracamy |
| wy | wracacie |
| oni / one | wracają |
Past tense (gendered — Polish marks gender in the past). The masculine-personal plural (oni, a group including at least one man) differs from the non-masculine-personal plural (one, everything else):
| masculine | feminine | neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja | wracałem | wracałam | — |
| ty | wracałeś | wracałaś | — |
| on / ona / ono | wracał | wracała | wracało |
| my | wracaliśmy | wracałyśmy | — |
| wy | wracaliście | wracałyście | — |
| oni (masc.-pers.) / one | wracali | wracały | |
Imperative: wracaj! (sg.), wracajcie! (pl.). Imperfective future is compound — będę wracać / będę wracał(a) ("I'll be returning / on my way back"). Contemporary adverbial participle: wracając ("while returning"), e.g. Wracając do domu, kupiłem chleb ("On my way home, I bought bread").
Wracaj szybko, robi się ciemno!
Come back quickly, it's getting dark!
Wracając z pracy, zawsze mijam ten park.
On my way back from work, I always pass that park.
wrócić (perfective)
The perfective is a regular -ę / -isz (third-conjugation) verb. Its "present-tense" forms mean the future. Note the ó throughout the stem:
| Person | Perfective future |
|---|---|
| ja | wrócę |
| ty | wrócisz |
| on / ona / ono | wróci |
| my | wrócimy |
| wy | wrócicie |
| oni / one | wrócą |
Past tense (also keeping the ó):
| masculine | feminine | neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja | wróciłem | wróciłam | — |
| ty | wróciłeś | wróciłaś | — |
| on / ona / ono | wrócił | wróciła | wróciło |
| my | wróciliśmy | wróciłyśmy | — |
| wy | wróciliście | wróciłyście | — |
| oni (masc.-pers.) / one | wrócili | wróciły | |
Imperative: wróć! (sg.), wróćcie! (pl.) — both with ó and a soft ć. A perfective verb has no present-tense participles; its anterior adverbial participle is wróciwszy ("having returned," literary).
Wróciłam do domu bardzo późno.
I got home very late. (female speaker)
Wróć! Zapomniałeś telefonu.
Come back! You forgot your phone.
Government: do + genitive for the destination
To say where you're returning to, use do + genitive — the same "to/into" preposition you use with motion verbs:
Wracam do domu.
I'm going home / on my way home.
Kiedy wrócisz do Polski?
When will you come back to Poland?
Wrócili do pracy po wakacjach.
They went back to work after the holidays.
Note the irregular but extremely common do domu ("home," literally "to the house") — dom takes the genitive domu here. To say from where you're returning, use z / ze + genitive: wracam z pracy ("I'm coming back from work"), wróciła ze szkoły ("she came back from school"). For the prepositions that govern the genitive, see Genitive after prepositions.
You can also give the time with o + locative (o piątej, "at five") or za + accusative for "in (an amount of time)" (za godzinę, "in an hour"):
Wrócę za godzinę.
I'll be back in an hour.
wracać/wrócić vs oddać — two kinds of "return"
English uses "return" both for a person coming back and for giving an object back. Polish keeps these strictly apart:
- wracać / wrócić = a subject moves back to a place. The subject returns; there is no direct object. Wracam do domu.
- oddać / oddawać = you hand a thing back to someone. There is a direct object (accusative) and usually a recipient (dative). Oddaj książkę.
Wracam do domu.
I'm coming home. (I am returning)
Oddaj mi książkę.
Give me back the book. (return the object)
So "I'm returning the books to the library tomorrow" is Jutro oddam książki do biblioteki (oddać — handing objects back), whereas "I'm returning to the library tomorrow" is Jutro wrócę do biblioteki (wrócić — going back there myself). Mixing these up is the single most common error with this verb. The full oddawać / oddać reference is at oddać (give back).
Quick recap with przychodzić
Wracać/wrócić sits among the everyday motion verbs you already know, like przychodzić / przyjść ("to arrive, to come"). The difference: przychodzić is about coming (here) for the first time; wracać is about coming back to where you were before. Both take do + genitive for the destination:
Przychodzę do pracy o ósmej, a wracam do domu o czwartej.
I come to work at eight, and go home at four.
Common Mistakes
❌ Wrocę o piątej.
Incorrect — missing the ó in the perfective stem.
✅ Wrócę o piątej.
I'll be back at five.
The perfective is spelled with ó everywhere: wrócę, not wrocę.
❌ Wracam do dom.
Incorrect — destination needs the genitive.
✅ Wracam do domu.
I'm going home.
After do the noun must be genitive: dom → domu.
❌ Wróć książkę do biblioteki.
Wrong verb — a returned object needs oddać.
✅ Oddaj książkę do biblioteki.
Return the book to the library.
A thing being handed back uses oddać, not wrócić. Wrócić is only for a person/subject coming back.
❌ Wracę jutro.
Incorrect — mixing the two stems.
✅ Wrócę jutro.
I'll come back tomorrow.
The perfective is wrócić → wrócę, not wracę. Keep the imperfective wracam (present) and the perfective wrócę (future) apart.
❌ Wracałem do Polski na zawsze w zeszłym roku.
Imperfective for a single completed return — should be perfective.
✅ Wróciłem do Polski na zawsze w zeszłym roku.
I came back to Poland for good last year.
A single, completed return uses the perfective wróciłem; the imperfective wracałem would suggest a repeated or ongoing action.
Key Takeaways
- wracać (impf, present wracam... wracają) / wrócić (pf, future wrócę... wrócą) = a person returning.
- Destination = do + genitive (wracam do domu); origin = z/ze + genitive (z pracy).
- The perfective stem is spelled with ó: wrócę, wróci, wrócił, wróć.
- Don't confuse it with oddać (give a thing back) — wrócić has no object; oddać does.
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- wracać / wrócić — to return, come backB1 — Full conjugation of wracać / wrócić ('to return, come back'): present wracam/wracasz…/wracają, perfective future wrócę/wrócisz…/wrócą (note the ó), past wracał vs wrócił, imperatives wracaj!/wróć!, and the government — return TO a place is do + genitive (Wracam do domu).
- przychodzić / przyjść — to come, arrive (on foot)B1 — Full conjugation of the aspect pair przychodzić (impf) / przyjść (pf), 'to come / arrive on foot', built on chodzić / iść with the prefix przy-.
- Genitive After Prepositions (do, od, z, bez, dla, u)A2 — The large set of prepositions that govern the Polish genitive — do, od, z, bez, dla, u and more — with the do-vs-na 'to' trap.
- Verbs of Motion: Determinate vs IndeterminateB1 — Polish splits 'go' into pairs of imperfective verbs distinguished by direction and manner: determinate (one trip, now) vs indeterminate (habitual, multidirectional, round-trip).
- Narrating Your Daily RoutineA2 — A phrase bank for describing your day in sequence — reflexive grooming verbs, the habitual present, and sequencing words like najpierw and potem.