This page is a complete reference for the aspect pair zabierać / zabrać ("to take away, to take along"). It is the everyday verb for bringing something with you (an umbrella, your passport, the kids) or taking something away (the plates from the table, a toy from a child). For an English speaker the most useful fact is that zabrać is built on brać ("to take") plus the prefix za-, so it shares brać's tricky shifting stem: zabiorę but zabierzesz. Learn that alternation once here and you have it for brać, zabrać, wybrać, zebrać and the rest of the family.
zabierać / zabrać — meaning and government
zabrać means to take along (bring with you when you go) or to take away / remove (carry off, deprive someone of). The object goes in the accusative. A destination is expressed with na / do + place ("to"), and the person something is taken from goes in the dative: Zabrali mu paszport — "They took his passport (from him)."
Zabierz parasol, bo pada.
Take an umbrella, it's raining.
Zabiorę cię na lotnisko o szóstej.
I'll take you to the airport at six.
Kelner zabrał talerze ze stołu.
The waiter took the plates away from the table.
The aspect contrast is standard. zabierać (imperfective) describes taking things along habitually or as a process; zabrać (perfective) describes one completed act. Plans and single actions take the perfective.
Zawsze zabieram ze sobą butelkę wody.
I always take a bottle of water with me.
Zabrałam dzieci do babci na weekend.
I took the kids to Grandma's for the weekend.
zabierać — imperfective conjugation
The imperfective zabierać is a regular -am / -asz verb (conjugation type like czytać). The stem stays zabier- throughout — no alternation here.
Present tense
| Person | Form | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| ja | zabieram | I take (away/along) |
| ty | zabierasz | you take |
| on / ona / ono | zabiera | he / she / it takes |
| my | zabieramy | we take |
| wy | zabieracie | you (pl.) take |
| oni / one | zabierają | they take |
Past tense (by gender)
| Person | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja | zabierałem | zabierałam | — |
| ty | zabierałeś | zabierałaś | — |
| on / ona / ono | zabierał | zabierała | zabierało |
| my | zabieraliśmy | zabierałyśmy | — |
| wy | zabieraliście | zabierałyście | — |
| oni / one | zabierali | zabierały | — |
The masculine-personal plural is zabierali; the non-masculine-personal plural is zabierały.
Imperative and participles
| Form | Polish |
|---|---|
| imperative (ty) | zabieraj |
| imperative (my) | zabierajmy |
| imperative (wy) | zabierajcie |
| active adjectival participle | zabierający |
| contemporary adverbial participle | zabierając |
| passive participle | zabierany |
| verbal noun | zabieranie |
zabrać — perfective conjugation
The perfective zabrać inherits the famous brać stem alternation. In the future, the ja and oni/one forms have -or- (zabiorę, zabiorą), while everything in between has -erz- (zabierzesz, zabierze, zabierzemy, zabierzecie). This is the same pattern as bare brać → biorę, bierzesz — just with za- in front.
Simple future tense
| Person | Form | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| ja | zabiorę | I'll take |
| ty | zabierzesz | you'll take |
| on / ona / ono | zabierze | he / she / it will take |
| my | zabierzemy | we'll take |
| wy | zabierzecie | you (pl.) will take |
| oni / one | zabiorą | they'll take |
Past tense (by gender)
| Person | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja | zabrałem | zabrałam | — |
| ty | zabrałeś | zabrałaś | — |
| on / ona / ono | zabrał | zabrała | zabrało |
| my | zabraliśmy | zabrałyśmy | — |
| wy | zabraliście | zabrałyście | — |
| oni / one | zabrali | zabrały | — |
Note that the past is built on the short stem zabra- (no -ier- or -ior-): zabrałem, zabrała, zabrali. The vowel alternation lives only in the future.
Imperative and participles
| Form | Polish |
|---|---|
| imperative (ty) | zabierz |
| imperative (my) | zabierzmy |
| imperative (wy) | zabierzcie |
| passive participle | zabrany |
| anterior adverbial participle | zabrawszy |
The imperative is zabierz! (built on the -erz- stem, like the ty future), not zabior-. So: future zabiorę / zabierzesz, command zabierz!
Zabierz mnie ze sobą!
Take me with you!
Nie zabieraj zabawki bratu.
Don't take your brother's toy away.
zabrać vs wziąć — the distinction English misses
English "take" covers both wziąć (pick up, grab — focus on the act of taking hold) and zabrać (take along/away — focus on moving the thing with you). If you simply pick something up, use wziąć; if you take it somewhere with you or remove it, use zabrać.
Weź długopis ze stołu i podpisz tu.
Take a pen off the table and sign here. (just pick it up)
Zabierz długopis do szkoły.
Take a pen to school (with you).
A second nuance: zabrać also means to take up time, space, or energy — Ile to zabierze czasu? ("How much time will that take?").
Naprawa zabierze nam cały dzień.
The repair will take us all day.
How English speakers go wrong
❌ Zabieram klucze ze stołu i otwieram drzwi.
Incorrect — for simply picking up an object, use brać/wziąć.
✅ Biorę klucze ze stołu i otwieram drzwi.
I take the keys off the table and open the door.
If the focus is grabbing/picking up rather than carrying away, the verb is brać/wziąć, not zabierać/zabrać.
❌ Jutro zabieram cię na lotnisko.
Incorrect — a single planned future trip is perfective.
✅ Jutro zabiorę cię na lotnisko.
Tomorrow I'll take you to the airport.
A one-off future action takes the perfective zabrać → zabiorę.
❌ Oni zabierzą dzieci do parku.
Incorrect — the 'oni' future is zabiorą (the -or- edge form).
✅ Oni zabiorą dzieci do parku.
They'll take the kids to the park.
The 3rd-person plural future is zabiorą, not zabierzą — the plural is an "edge" form and takes -or-.
❌ Zabior mi to!
Incorrect — the imperative is built on the -erz- stem.
✅ Zabierz mi to!
Take that away from me!
The command form is zabierz!, never zabior-.
Key takeaways
- zabrać = take along (bring with you) or take away (remove); object in the accusative.
- It is built on brać/wziąć with za-, and inherits brać's stem alternation: zabiorę / zabiorą (edges) vs zabierzesz / zabierze / zabierzemy / zabierzecie (middle).
- Past is on the short stem: zabrałem, zabrała, zabrali.
- Imperative zabierz! uses the -erz- stem.
- Use brać/wziąć for "pick up / grab"; reserve zabrać for "take somewhere with you" or "take away".
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