wystarczyć is one of the highest-value impersonal verbs in Polish, and English speakers under-use it badly. On its own, Wystarczy means "that's enough / that'll do." Followed by an infinitive, wystarczy + verb means "all you have to do is… / you just need to…" — Wystarczy nacisnąć przycisk ("Just press the button"). And with a dative, it tells you what is enough for whom — Wystarczy mi to ("That's enough for me"). It is an aspect pair: imperfective wystarczać (it is generally / repeatedly enough) and perfective wystarczyć (it will be / was enough on a given occasion). The verb lives almost entirely in the third person — what suffices is an it, not a you — and is most often used impersonally, with no grammatical subject at all. Note the cz digraph and the ą in wystarczą: wystarczy, wystarczą.
The aspect pair
| Aspect | Infinitive | What it conveys |
|---|---|---|
| imperfective | wystarczać | it is enough in general / repeatedly / as a rule |
| perfective | wystarczyć | it is/was/will be enough on this occasion |
In everyday speech the perfective wystarczy dominates, because "enough" is usually a one-off judgement about a specific situation ("that's enough sugar," "ten minutes will be enough"). The imperfective wystarcza surfaces in general truths ("a salary like that just isn't enough these days"). For the broader logic of these pairings, see /grammar/polish/verbs/aspect/common-pairs-reference.
Present (imperfective) and future (perfective)
The imperfective wystarczać (-am/-asz class) gives a true present; the perfective wystarczyć (-ę/-isz class) gives the simple future. Both live in the third person.
| Person | wystarczać (impf — present) | wystarczyć (pf — future) |
|---|---|---|
| on / ona / ono | wystarcza | wystarczy |
| oni / one | wystarczają | wystarczą |
Dziękuję, wystarczy — nie nalewaj więcej.
Thank you, that's enough — don't pour any more.
Czy to wystarczy na dwie osoby?
Will that be enough for two people?
Takie pieniądze już dziś nie wystarczają na życie.
Money like that just isn't enough to live on these days.
The first and second persons are grammatically possible but rare and usually jokey or pointed — Wystarczysz mi ty ("You alone are enough for me"). You will essentially never need them in ordinary speech.
Past tense (by gender and number)
Built on the stems wystarcza- (impf) and wystarczy- (pf). The form you will use almost every time is the neuter singular wystarczyło ("it was enough"), because the subject is an abstract it (to, czasu, jedzenia).
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| on / ona / ono | wystarczył | wystarczyła | wystarczyło |
| oni (masc-pers.) | wystarczyli | — | |
| one (other) | wystarczyły | ||
Pieniędzy ledwo wystarczyło do końca miesiąca.
The money barely lasted to the end of the month.
Wystarczyło jedno słowo, żeby się obraził.
It took just one word for him to take offence.
Notice the genitive subject in Pieniędzy… wystarczyło — with quantities, the thing that "is enough" often appears in the genitive (the genitive of quantity), and the verb stays in the neuter singular. This is the same impersonal logic you see across Polish; see /grammar/polish/syntax/impersonal-sentences.
The killer frame: wystarczy + infinitive
This is the construction English speakers should steal immediately. wystarczy + infinitive packages the English idiom "all you have to do is… / you just need to… / it's enough to…" into two words. There is no grammatical subject — it is impersonal — and the infinitive carries the action.
Wystarczy nacisnąć ten przycisk i drukarka się włączy.
You just need to press this button and the printer turns on.
Żeby się zapisać, wystarczy podać imię i adres e-mail.
To sign up, all you have to do is give your name and email address.
Nie musisz dzwonić — wystarczy napisać SMS-a.
You don't have to call — it's enough to send a text.
For the form of the complement verb, see /grammar/polish/verbs/fundamentals/infinitive. Aspect matters here: a perfective infinitive (nacisnąć, podać) frames it as one decisive action ("just press it once"); an imperfective infinitive frames it as an ongoing condition.
Enough FOR someone: the dative
To say something is enough for a particular person, add a dative: Wystarczy mi to ("That's enough for me"), Czy wam wystarczy? ("Will it be enough for you?"). The person who has enough sits in the dative, the impersonal wystarczy stays in the third person.
Wystarczy mi pięć minut, żeby się przygotować.
Five minutes is enough for me to get ready.
Czy starczy nam czasu na kawę przed pociągiem?
Will we have enough time for a coffee before the train?
That second example uses the very common shortened variant starczyć (= wystarczyć) — starczy mi, nie starczy — frequent in speech and fully standard. For the dative-experiencer pattern in general, see /grammar/polish/cases/dative/dative-subject-and-feelings.
Government — na, do, komu
- wystarczyć na + accusative — "to be enough for (a purpose/duration)": wystarczy na tydzień ("enough for a week"), wystarczy na wszystkich ("enough for everyone").
- wystarczyć do + genitive — "to last until": wystarczy do końca miesiąca ("to last to the end of the month").
- wystarczyć komuś — dative: "to be enough for someone" (above).
| Polish | English |
|---|---|
| Wystarczy! / Już wystarczy! | That's enough! / Enough now! |
| Czy to wystarczy? | Will that be enough? |
| Wystarczy powiedzieć, że… | Suffice it to say that… |
| Tyle (mi) wystarczy. | That much is enough (for me). |
Common Mistakes
❌ Wystarczy naciskasz ten przycisk.
Incorrect — wystarczy is followed by an infinitive, not a conjugated verb.
✅ Wystarczy nacisnąć ten przycisk.
You just have to press this button.
❌ To wystarczy dla mnie.
Incorrect — 'enough for someone' uses the bare dative, not dla + genitive.
✅ To mi wystarczy.
That's enough for me.
❌ Te pieniądze wystarczy na tydzień.
Incorrect — a plural subject (pieniądze) needs the plural verb wystarczą.
✅ Te pieniądze wystarczą na tydzień.
This money will be enough for a week.
❌ Wystarczyło jedno słowo żeby on obraził się.
Acceptable meaning, but the verb is wystarczyło (neuter, with a genitive subject) — the structure itself is fine; learners tend to make it 'wystarczył'.
✅ Wystarczyło jedno słowo, żeby się obraził.
One word was enough for him to take offence.
❌ Czy to wystarcze?
Incorrect — the perfective future is wystarczy (with -y), and the plural is wystarczą with the nasal ą.
✅ Czy to wystarczy?
Will that be enough?
Key Takeaways
- The pair is imperfective wystarczać (wystarcza, wystarczają) / perfective wystarczyć (wystarczy, wystarczą); past wystarczyło / wystarczyły. Everyday speech leans on the perfective.
- Used impersonally in the third person: Wystarczy = "that's enough"; Czy to wystarczy? = "is that enough?"
- wystarczy + infinitive = "all you have to do is… / you just need to…" — the highest-value frame on this page.
- "Enough for someone" = bare dative: Wystarczy mi to. Government: na + accusative (for a purpose), do + genitive (to last until). The clipped starczyć is a common synonym in speech.
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