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pokazywać / pokazać — show

This page covers the everyday verb pair pokazywać (imperfective) / pokazać (perfective), "to show". It is a model pair worth studying closely for two reasons: it shows the very common -ywać → -uję present pattern, and the perfective member carries a z → ż consonant mutation that surfaces in the future and the imperative (pokażę, pokaż!). If you understand how these two members differ, you can decode dozens of other verbs built the same way.

What the pair means

Both members translate as "show", but they package the action differently. The imperfective pokazywać describes showing as a process, a habit, or a repeated action; the perfective pokazać describes one completed act of showing — you display the thing, the other person sees it, done.

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The split is the heart of the Polish aspect system: imperfective = the showing in progress, ongoing or habitual; perfective = one whole act of showing, viewed as a finished result. English uses one verb for both, so you must add this distinction yourself every time.

Przewodnik pokazywał nam zabytki przez całe popołudnie.

The guide was showing us the monuments all afternoon.

Pokaż mi to zdjęcie, proszę.

Show me that photo, please.

Government: what cases pokazać takes

You show something (the thing shown) to somebody (the recipient). In Polish that is:

So Pokaż mi zdjęcie breaks down as pokaż (show) + mi (to me — dative) + zdjęcie (the photo — accusative). The recipient is the same dative you meet with give-type verbs, and the thing shown is an ordinary direct object in the accusative.

Pokazałem rodzicom nasze nowe mieszkanie.

I showed my parents our new flat.

Czy mógłbyś pokazać kolegom prezentację jeszcze raz?

Could you show your colleagues the presentation one more time?

Imperfective: pokazywać (present, past, imperative)

pokazywać belongs to the productive -ywać type, whose present stem drops -ywa- and adds -uj-: pokazuję, pokazujesz… pokazują. The infinitive keeps the z; the ż mutation does not appear in the imperfective.

Present tense

PersonSingularPlural
1stpokazujępokazujemy
2ndpokazujeszpokazujecie
3rdpokazujepokazują

Past tense (gendered)

MasculineFeminineNeuter
1st sgpokazywałempokazywałam—
2nd sgpokazywałeśpokazywałaś—
3rd sgpokazywałpokazywałapokazywało
Masculine-personal plOther plural
1st plpokazywaliśmypokazywałyśmy
2nd plpokazywaliściepokazywałyście
3rd plpokazywalipokazywały

Imperative and participles

Imperative: pokazuj! (sg), pokazujmy! (let's), pokazujcie! (pl). Contemporary adverbial participle: pokazując (while showing). Active adjectival participle: pokazujący. Imperfective passive participle: pokazywany.

Na lekcjach historii nauczyciel zawsze pokazuje nam stare mapy.

In history lessons the teacher always shows us old maps.

Pokazując palcem, dziecko zapytało, co to jest.

Pointing with its finger, the child asked what it was.

Perfective: pokazać (future, past, imperative)

The perfective pokazać has no present tense — its present-shaped forms are the simple future. Here the z → ż mutation appears throughout the future and the imperative: pokażę, pokażesz… pokażą, imperative pokaż!.

Simple future

PersonSingularPlural
1stpokażępokażemy
2ndpokażeszpokażecie
3rdpokażepokażą
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The future of a perfective verb looks exactly like a present tense in form, but it can never mean "now" — a finished act cannot be in progress. Pokażę ci means "I'll show you", not "I'm showing you". To say the latter, you must use the imperfective present pokazuję ci.

Past tense (gendered)

MasculineFeminineNeuter
1st sgpokazałempokazałam—
2nd sgpokazałeśpokazałaś—
3rd sgpokazałpokazałapokazało
Masculine-personal plOther plural
1st plpokazaliśmypokazałyśmy
2nd plpokazaliściepokazałyście
3rd plpokazalipokazały

Note that the past stem of the perfective keeps the plain z (pokazał-); the ż lives only in the future/imperative. Perfective passive participle: pokazany ("shown").

Imperative

Imperative: pokaż! (sg), pokażmy! (let's), pokażcie! (pl). The everyday command "show me!" is simply Pokaż! — one of the first imperatives Polish children produce.

Pokaż mi, jak to działa.

Show me how this works.

Jutro pokażę ci moje stare zdjęcia z wakacji.

Tomorrow I'll show you my old holiday photos.

Imperfective vs perfective in context

The choice tracks meaning closely. Use the imperfective for repeated, habitual or ongoing showing; use the perfective for a single completed act or a future result.

Sprzedawca pokazywał klientom różne modele telefonów.

The salesman was showing the customers various phone models. (process)

W końcu pokazał im model, który chcieli.

In the end he showed them the model they wanted. (one completed act)

In the imperative the contrast is subtle but real: Pokaż! (perfective) is the normal one-off "show me!"; Pokazuj! (imperfective) suggests "keep showing" or, in the negative, "don't be showing" — and negative commands strongly prefer the imperfective.

Nie pokazuj nikomu tego hasła.

Don't show this password to anyone. (negative → imperfective)

Common Mistakes

❌ Teraz pokażę ci moje zdjęcia.

Incorrect if you mean 'right now, in progress' — perfective future can't mean 'now'.

✅ Teraz pokazuję ci moje zdjęcia.

I'm showing you my photos right now. (ongoing → imperfective present)

❌ Pokazuję ci to jutro.

Incorrect — imperfective present cannot express a single future act.

✅ Pokażę ci to jutro.

I'll show you this tomorrow. (single future act → perfective)

❌ Pokaż mnie zdjęcie.

Incorrect — the recipient must be dative 'mi', not accusative 'mnie'.

✅ Pokaż mi zdjęcie.

Show me the photo. (mi = dative recipient)

❌ Pokazę ci to.

Incorrect spelling — the perfective future mutates z → ż.

✅ Pokażę ci to.

I'll show you this. (ż in the perfective future)

❌ Nie pokaż nikomu.

Incorrect — negative commands take the imperfective.

✅ Nie pokazuj nikomu.

Don't show anyone. (negative → imperfective imperative)

Key Takeaways

  • pokazywać (imperfective): present pokazuję / pokazują, the -ywać → -uję pattern; ongoing, habitual, or repeated showing.
  • pokazać (perfective): simple future pokażę / pokażą with z → ż, imperative pokaż!; one completed act of showing.
  • Government: show something (accusative) to someone (dative).
  • The perfective future never means "now"; for "now" use the imperfective present.
  • Negative commands (nie pokazuj!) prefer the imperfective.

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Related Topics

  • Verbal Aspect: The Big PictureA2 — Aspect is the central, pervasive feature of the Polish verb — almost every verb is one of an imperfective/perfective pair, and you choose between process and completed whole before you even pick a tense.
  • Decision Guide: Imperfective or Perfective?B1 — A step-by-step checklist that takes you from intended meaning to aspect — ask about process vs. result and single vs. repeated, run the questions in order, and most clauses choose themselves.
  • High-Frequency Aspect Pairs: A Reference ListA2 — A curated, cell-accurate list of the ~50 most common imperfective/perfective pairs every learner needs — grouped sensibly, with the suppletive and irregular ones flagged, made to be memorised as pairs from day one.
  • Forming Aspect Pairs: Imperfectivizing SuffixesB1 — The second way to build a pair: derive an imperfective from a perfective by adding a suffix like -ywać/-iwać or -ać — the engine behind secondary imperfectives and three-step chains like pisać → przepisać → przepisywać.
  • Dative: The Indirect ObjectA2 — The dative's core meaning — the recipient or beneficiary of giving, telling, showing, helping — and the surprise that Polish verbs like pomagać, dziękować, wierzyć and ufać take the dative where English uses a direct object.
  • Accusative: The Direct ObjectA1 — The accusative's core job — marking the direct object of a transitive verb — and how that case-marking frees Polish word order in ways English can't.