This page is a complete reference for the aspect pair znajdować / znaleźć ("to find"). It belongs to a little story English speakers must internalise: you szukać (look for) something, and if you succeed you znaleźć (find) it. The catch is that these two verbs take different cases — szukać takes the genitive ("look for"), while znaleźć takes the accusative (find it, as a completed object). The verb also has an irregular future (znajdę, znajdziesz) and a vowel alternation in the past (znalazł but znaleźli), so it rewards careful study.
znajdować / znaleźć — meaning and government
znaleźć means to find — to discover, to locate, to come across something. The thing found goes in the accusative: Znalazłem klucze ("I found the keys"). The imperfective znajdować is used for finding repeatedly or habitually, or for "finding" in a general/figurative sense (finding time, finding faults, finding something to be a certain way).
Nie mogę znaleźć okularów — widziałeś je gdzieś?
I can't find my glasses — have you seen them anywhere?
Znalazłam wreszcie dobrą pracę.
I've finally found a good job.
Zawsze znajduje sposób, żeby się wykręcić.
He always finds a way to wriggle out of it.
The reflexive znajdować się / znaleźć się means "to be located / to find oneself somewhere":
Muzeum znajduje się w centrum miasta.
The museum is located in the city centre.
znajdować — imperfective conjugation
The imperfective znajdować conjugates like an -ować verb: the -owa- becomes -uj- in the present, giving znajduję, znajdujesz …
Present tense
| Person | Form | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| ja | znajduję | I find |
| ty | znajdujesz | you find |
| on / ona / ono | znajduje | he / she / it finds |
| my | znajdujemy | we find |
| wy | znajdujecie | you (pl.) find |
| oni / one | znajdują | they find |
Past tense (by gender)
| Person | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja | znajdowałem | znajdowałam | — |
| ty | znajdowałeś | znajdowałaś | — |
| on / ona / ono | znajdował | znajdowała | znajdowało |
| my | znajdowaliśmy | znajdowałyśmy | — |
| wy | znajdowaliście | znajdowałyście | — |
| oni / one | znajdowali | znajdowały | — |
The masculine-personal plural is znajdowali; the non-masculine-personal plural is znajdowały.
Imperative and participles
| Form | Polish |
|---|---|
| imperative (ty) | znajduj |
| imperative (my) | znajdujmy |
| imperative (wy) | znajdujcie |
| active adjectival participle | znajdujący |
| contemporary adverbial participle | znajdując |
| passive participle | znajdowany |
| verbal noun | znajdowanie |
The bare imperfective imperative znajduj! is rare on its own; you'll meet it mostly in the reflexive and in fixed phrases.
znaleźć — perfective conjugation
The perfective znaleźć is genuinely irregular and worth memorising as a unit. The future is built on the stem znajd- (znajdę, znajdziesz); the past is built on a different stem with a vowel alternation: znalazł- before a hard ending, but znaleź- before the soft masculine-personal plural ending. So you get znalazł ("he found") but znaleźli ("they [men] found").
Simple future tense
| Person | Form | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| ja | znajdę | I'll find |
| ty | znajdziesz | you'll find |
| on / ona / ono | znajdzie | he / she / it will find |
| my | znajdziemy | we'll find |
| wy | znajdziecie | you (pl.) will find |
| oni / one | znajdą | they'll find |
Past tense (by gender)
| Person | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja | znalazłem | znalazłam | — |
| ty | znalazłeś | znalazłaś | — |
| on / ona / ono | znalazł | znalazła | znalazło |
| my | znaleźliśmy | znalazłyśmy | — |
| wy | znaleźliście | znalazłyście | — |
| oni / one | znaleźli | znalazły | — |
Imperative and participles
| Form | Polish |
|---|---|
| imperative (ty) | znajdź |
| imperative (my) | znajdźmy |
| imperative (wy) | znajdźcie |
| passive participle | znaleziony |
| anterior adverbial participle | znalazłszy |
The imperative znajdź! ("find it!") is built on the future stem znajd-. The passive participle znaleziony ("found") shows up in everyday phrases like biuro rzeczy znalezionych ("lost-and-found office").
Znajdź mi numer do hydraulika, dobrze?
Find me a plumber's number, would you?
Oddali znaleziony portfel na policję.
They handed the found wallet in to the police.
szukać → znaleźć — the case switch in action
This is the heart of the page. You szukać something with the genitive, and when the search ends in success you znaleźć it with the accusative. The same noun therefore changes its ending between the two clauses.
Szukałem pracy przez pół roku i w końcu ją znalazłem.
I looked for a job for six months and finally found one. (pracy = gen., ją = acc.)
Szukamy mieszkania, ale jeszcze nic nie znaleźliśmy.
We're looking for a flat, but we haven't found anything yet.
Note also the partner symmetry: szukać is itself imperfective (a process), and poszukać is its perfective ("have a look for"). But the natural result of searching is expressed by switching verbs entirely to znaleźć — searching and finding are different actions, not just different aspects.
How English speakers go wrong
❌ Szukam klucze.
Incorrect — szukać governs the genitive, not the accusative.
✅ Szukam kluczy.
I'm looking for the keys. (kluczy = genitive)
szukać always takes the genitive — even though English "look for" feels like a direct object.
❌ Znalazłem kluczy pod kanapą.
Incorrect — znaleźć governs the accusative, not the genitive.
✅ Znalazłem klucze pod kanapą.
I found the keys under the sofa. (klucze = accusative)
Once you've found the thing, the case flips to accusative.
❌ Oni znajdli rozwiązanie.
Incorrect — wrong past stem; men-group plural is znaleźli.
✅ Oni znaleźli rozwiązanie.
They found a solution.
The masculine-personal plural past is znaleźli (soft ź), not znajdli and not znalazli.
❌ Znaleźę cię później, jak będę miał czas.
Incorrect — there is no regular *znaleźę; the future is built on the znajd- stem.
✅ Znajdę cię później, jak będę miał czas.
I'll find you later, when I have time.
The future really is the surprising-looking znajdę (not znaleźę); the future stem is znajd-, the same as the imperative znajdź.
Key takeaways
- The storyline: szukać + genitive (look for) → znaleźć + accusative (find). The case switches with the verb.
- znajdować (imperfective) is an -ować verb: znajduję … znajdują.
- znaleźć (perfective) is irregular: future znajdę, znajdziesz … znajdą; imperative znajdź!
- The past alternates: znalazł / znalazła / znalazły (with -az-) but znaleźli (with soft -eź-, men-group only).
- Reflexive znajdować się = "to be located"; passive participle znaleziony = "found".
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