This page is a complete reference for the aspect pair oddawać / oddać ("to give back, to return [a thing]"). It is one of the most useful verbs in everyday Polish — you use it for returning a borrowed book, paying back money, handing in homework, or giving something back to its owner. The key for an English speaker is that oddać is built on dać ("to give") plus the prefix od- ("away, back"), so it conjugates in the dawać/dać family you may already know. Crucially, it is not the verb for "returning" in the sense of coming back (that is wracać/wrócić); oddać always involves handing an object over to someone.
oddawać / oddać — meaning and government
oddać means to give something back — to hand it over, to return it to the person it belongs to, or to whom it is owed. The thing returned goes in the accusative, and the person who receives it goes in the dative: Oddaj *mi (dative) książkę (accusative) — "Give *me the book back." This double-object pattern (accusative thing + dative recipient) is exactly the pattern of dać itself.
Oddaj mi klucze, proszę.
Give me the keys back, please.
Pożyczyłem mu pieniądze, ale jeszcze ich nie oddał.
I lent him money, but he hasn't paid it back yet.
Oddałam koleżance sukienkę, którą pożyczyłam.
I returned the dress I'd borrowed to my friend.
The aspect contrast is the standard one. oddawać (imperfective) describes returning things habitually, repeatedly, or as a process in progress; oddać (perfective) describes one completed act of giving back. With a single concrete object you'll almost always want the perfective.
Zawsze oddaję książki do biblioteki na czas.
I always return library books on time.
Oddam ci to jutro, obiecuję.
I'll give it back to you tomorrow, I promise.
oddawać — imperfective conjugation
The imperfective oddawać conjugates exactly like dawać: the -wa- drops in the present and you get -aję, -ajesz …
Present tense
| Person | Form | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| ja | oddaję | I give back |
| ty | oddajesz | you give back |
| on / ona / ono | oddaje | he / she / it gives back |
| my | oddajemy | we give back |
| wy | oddajecie | you (pl.) give back |
| oni / one | oddają | they give back |
Past tense (by gender)
| Person | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja | oddawałem | oddawałam | — |
| ty | oddawałeś | oddawałaś | — |
| on / ona / ono | oddawał | oddawała | oddawało |
| my | oddawaliśmy | oddawałyśmy | — |
| wy | oddawaliście | oddawałyście | — |
| oni / one | oddawali | oddawały | — |
The masculine-personal plural is oddawali (men or mixed groups); the non-masculine-personal plural is oddawały (women, children, objects).
Imperative and participles
| Form | Polish |
|---|---|
| imperative (ty) | oddawaj |
| imperative (my) | oddawajmy |
| imperative (wy) | oddawajcie |
| active adjectival participle | oddający |
| contemporary adverbial participle | oddając |
| passive participle | oddawany |
| verbal noun | oddawanie |
oddać — perfective conjugation
The perfective oddać conjugates exactly like dać — the athematic (irregular) -am, -asz, -a, -amy, -acie, -adzą future. Note the third-person plural -adzą, not -ają: this is the same shape as dadzą, jedzą, wiedzą — a small closed class of verbs you simply memorise.
Simple future tense
| Person | Form | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| ja | oddam | I'll give back |
| ty | oddasz | you'll give back |
| on / ona / ono | odda | he / she / it will give back |
| my | oddamy | we'll give back |
| wy | oddacie | you (pl.) will give back |
| oni / one | oddadzą | they'll give back |
Past tense (by gender)
| Person | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja | oddałem | oddałam | — |
| ty | oddałeś | oddałaś | — |
| on / ona / ono | oddał | oddała | oddało |
| my | oddaliśmy | oddałyśmy | — |
| wy | oddaliście | oddałyście | — |
| oni / one | oddali | oddały | — |
Imperative and participles
| Form | Polish |
|---|---|
| imperative (ty) | oddaj |
| imperative (my) | oddajmy |
| imperative (wy) | oddajcie |
| passive participle | oddany |
| anterior adverbial participle | oddawszy |
Oddaj! ("Give it back!") is one of the most common imperatives you'll hear from Polish children and exasperated adults alike.
Oddaj! To moje!
Give it back! It's mine!
Oddajcie nam to, co pożyczyliście.
Give us back what you borrowed.
Extended meanings worth knowing
Beyond the literal "give an object back", oddać has a few high-frequency idiomatic uses. It can mean to submit / hand in (homework, a form), to devote oneself (with się + dative), or to render / convey (a feeling, a likeness in a translation or a painting).
Muszę oddać pracę domową do piątku.
I have to hand in the homework by Friday.
Oddała się całkowicie pracy.
She devoted herself entirely to her work.
Ten przekład świetnie oddaje styl oryginału.
This translation captures the style of the original beautifully.
How English speakers go wrong
The errors below are real transfer mistakes, almost all stemming from English having only one verb, "return", where Polish has three.
❌ Oddałem do domu o piątej.
Incorrect — using oddać for 'return to a place'.
✅ Wróciłem do domu o piątej.
I returned home at five.
When you come back somewhere, you use wrócić, never oddać. Oddać needs an object that physically changes hands.
❌ Chcę oddać te buty do sklepu — są za małe.
Incorrect — for returning goods to a shop, Polish prefers zwrócić.
✅ Chcę zwrócić te buty do sklepu — są za małe.
I want to return these shoes to the shop — they're too small.
For returning purchased goods (with a refund), the standard verb is zwrócić. Oddać is heard colloquially here too, but zwrócić is the safe, correct choice.
❌ Oni oddają mi jutro pieniądze.
Incorrect — the planned, one-off payback is perfective.
✅ Oni oddadzą mi jutro pieniądze.
They'll give me the money back tomorrow.
A single, completed, future action needs the perfective oddać — and watch the irregular plural oddadzą.
❌ Oddaj mi książka.
Incorrect — the thing returned must be accusative.
✅ Oddaj mi książkę.
Give me the book back.
The object of oddać is accusative. Feminine książka becomes książkę (accusative), with the recipient mi in the dative.
Key takeaways
- oddać = give a physical thing back to its owner; wrócić = come/go back to a place; zwrócić = return goods to a shop.
- Government: oddać + accusative (thing) + dative (recipient) — Oddaj mi książkę.
- oddawać conjugates like dawać (oddaję … oddają); oddać conjugates like dać (oddam … oddadzą).
- The imperative oddaj! ("give it back!") is everyday speech.
- Memorise the irregular plural oddadzą alongside dadzą, sprzedadzą, jedzą, wiedzą.
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