To talk — in the sense of having a two-way conversation — is rozmawiać (imperfective) / porozmawiać (perfective) in Polish. The conjugation is straightforward: rozmawiać belongs to the regular -am / -asz class, with no mutations. What English speakers must master is the government, because rozmawiać is inherently reciprocal: you talk with someone (z + instrumental) about something (o + locative). Unlike English "talk," which happily takes a bare object ("talk politics," "talk to him"), Polish rozmawiać almost never stands without these prepositions. And it is not the same verb as mówić ("speak, say"), which is one-directional. This page covers the full paradigm, the perfective partner, and the z + instrumental / o + locative frame that defines the verb.
Present tense (imperfective rozmawiać)
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ja | rozmawiam | I talk / am talking |
| ty | rozmawiasz | you talk |
| on / ona / ono | rozmawia | he / she / it talks |
| my | rozmawiamy | we talk |
| wy | rozmawiacie | you (pl.) talk |
| oni / one | rozmawiają | they talk |
Rozmawiać is a model -am / -asz verb (Polish "conjugation III"): take the stem rozmawia- and add -m, -sz, (nothing in 3sg), -my, -cie, -ją. There are no consonant mutations; the only spelling point is the 3pl rozmawiają, written with a single -ją after the stem-final -a-. Because Polish has no continuous tense, rozmawiam means both "I talk" and "I am talking right now."
Właśnie rozmawiam z Anią, oddzwonię za chwilę.
I'm talking to Ania right now, I'll call you back in a sec. (z + instrumental)
O czym tak długo rozmawiacie?
What are you two talking about for so long? (o + locative → czym)
Sąsiedzi rzadko ze sobą rozmawiają.
The neighbours rarely talk to each other. (3pl → rozmawiają; ze sobą = with each other)
Past tense (rozmawiać)
| Subject | Past form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ja (m. / f.) | rozmawiałem / rozmawiałam | I talked |
| ty (m. / f.) | rozmawiałeś / rozmawiałaś | you talked |
| on / ona / ono | rozmawiał / rozmawiała / rozmawiało | he / she / it talked |
| my (vir. / non-vir.) | rozmawialiśmy / rozmawiałyśmy | we talked |
| wy (vir. / non-vir.) | rozmawialiście / rozmawiałyście | you (pl.) talked |
| oni / one | rozmawiali / rozmawiały | they talked |
The past is built on the stem rozmawia- with the -ł- marker. Watch the masculine-personal (virile) plural rozmawiali — for a group of men or any mixed group with a man in it — against the non-virile rozmawiały for women, children, animals and things. In the virile forms the -a- before -li- softens in pronunciation but stays spelled -a-: rozmawialiśmy, rozmawiali.
Wczoraj rozmawiałam z mamą przez dwie godziny.
Yesterday I talked with my mum for two hours. (woman speaking)
Długo rozmawiali o tym, czy się przeprowadzić.
They talked at length about whether to move. (men/mixed → rozmawiali)
Dziewczyny rozmawiały o wakacjach całą drogę.
The girls talked about the holidays the whole way. (women → rozmawiały)
Future and imperative (rozmawiać)
Rozmawiać is imperfective, so its future is the compound będę rozmawiał / rozmawiała (or będę rozmawiać with the bare infinitive) — ongoing or repeated talking:
Nie będę z nim rozmawiać, dopóki nie przeprosi.
I won't talk to him until he apologises. (ongoing refusal → imperfective future)
The imperative comes from the present stem: rozmawiaj! (2sg), rozmawiajmy! (1pl), rozmawiajcie! (2pl), and niech rozmawia / rozmawiają (3rd). The imperfective imperative urges general, continued conversation ("keep talking, do talk"); for a single deliberate chat the perfective Porozmawiajmy is far more natural (see below). The contemporary adverbial participle is rozmawiając ("talking, while talking").
| Form | rozmawiać (impf) | English |
|---|---|---|
| imperative 2sg | rozmawiaj! | talk! / keep talking! |
| imperative 1pl | rozmawiajmy! | let's talk! |
| imperative 2pl | rozmawiajcie! | talk! (pl.) |
| imperative 3rd | niech rozmawia / rozmawiają | let him/them talk |
| adverbial participle | rozmawiając | talking (while talking) |
Rozmawiajcie ze sobą, a nie przez prawników.
Talk to each other, not through lawyers. (imperfective imperative — keep talking)
Siedzieli na ławce, rozmawiając o starych czasach.
They sat on a bench, talking about old times. (adverbial participle)
Note: rozmawiać is intransitive (it has no direct object — only the z- and o-phrases), so it has no passive participle. There is no rozmawiany.
The perfective partner: porozmawiać
Porozmawiać (po- + rozmawiać) is the perfective: a single, bounded conversation — "to have a talk." The prefix po- here is delimitative: it frames the talking as one complete, usually deliberate episode ("let's have a (proper) talk about this"). Because it is perfective, its present-shaped forms are the simple future, and it conjugates exactly like rozmawiać with the prefix.
| Person | porozmawiać — future | English |
|---|---|---|
| ja | porozmawiam | I'll have a talk |
| ty | porozmawiasz | you'll have a talk |
| on / ona / ono | porozmawia | he / she / it will have a talk |
| my | porozmawiamy | we'll have a talk |
| wy | porozmawiacie | you (pl.) will have a talk |
| oni / one | porozmawiają | they'll have a talk |
| Form | porozmawiać (pf) | English |
|---|---|---|
| past (m./f. 1sg) | porozmawiałem / porozmawiałam | I had a talk |
| past (vir./non-vir. 3pl) | porozmawiali / porozmawiały | they had a talk |
| imperative (sg / pl) | porozmawiaj! / porozmawiajcie! | have a talk! / go talk to…! |
| adverbial participle | porozmawiawszy | having talked (literary) |
The most useful perfective form is the 1pl imperative Porozmawiajmy "Let's (have a) talk," and the 2sg Porozmawiaj z nim "Go and talk to him." The po- perfective signals you mean one focused conversation, not endless discussion — exactly what you want when proposing to clear something up.
Musimy poważnie porozmawiać o pieniądzach.
We need to have a serious talk about money. (one bounded conversation → perfective)
Porozmawiaj z nauczycielką, ona ci wszystko wytłumaczy.
Talk to the teacher, she'll explain everything to you. (perfective imperative)
Porozmawiamy o tym jutro na spokojnie.
We'll talk about it tomorrow, calmly. (perfective future)
Government: z + instrumental for the person, o + locative for the topic
This is the structural core. Rozmawiać opens two prepositional slots:
rozmawiać + z + [person in the INSTRUMENTAL] + o + [topic in the LOCATIVE]
The interlocutor — the person you talk with — takes z + instrumental (z bratem, z Anią, z nimi). The topic takes o + locative (o pracy, o polityce, o tobie). Either can be omitted, but the z-phrase is what makes the verb reciprocal; without it you have not specified the partner the conversation needs.
| "talk…" | Polish | Case |
|---|---|---|
| …with my brother | z bratem | z + instrumental |
| …with Ania | z Anią | z + instrumental |
| …with each other | ze sobą | z + instrumental (reflexive) |
| …about work | o pracy | o + locative |
| …about politics | o polityce | o + locative |
| …about you | o tobie | o + locative |
Before words beginning with s, z, ś, ź (and a few clusters) the preposition z appears as ze for ease of pronunciation: ze sobą, ze mną, ze Stefanem. This is automatic and worth getting right.
Codziennie rozmawiam z mamą przez telefon o wnukach.
I talk to my mum on the phone about the grandchildren every day. (both slots filled)
Z kim rozmawiałeś o podwyżce?
Who did you talk to about the pay rise? (z + instrumental → kim; o + locative → podwyżce)
rozmawiać vs mówić — talking together vs speaking
English "talk" blurs two ideas Polish separates:
- rozmawiać = converse, have a two-way exchange — needs a partner (z + instrumental) and a topic (o + locative). It is reciprocal by nature.
- mówić = speak, say, talk (one-directionally) — you produce speech; it takes what is said as an object, or do kogoś "speak to someone." Mówić po polsku "speak Polish"; mówić prawdę "tell the truth."
So "I was talking to my sister" (we exchanged words) is rozmawiałem z siostrą, but "she speaks three languages" is mówi w trzech językach — never rozmawia. And for telling someone a fact you reach for powiedzieć ("to tell, say once"), not rozmawiać. See mówić vs powiedzieć vs rozmawiać vs gadać for the full map.
Rozmawiałem z bratem, ale on prawie nic nie mówił.
I talked with my brother, but he hardly said anything. (rozmawiać = exchange; mówić = produce speech)
Ona pięknie mówi po francusku.
She speaks French beautifully. (a skill → mówić, never rozmawiać)
Common Mistakes
❌ Rozmawiam Anię.
Incorrect — rozmawiać never takes a bare object; the partner needs z + instrumental.
✅ Rozmawiam z Anią.
I'm talking to Ania.
❌ Rozmawiamy o pracę.
Incorrect — the topic is o + LOCATIVE (o pracy), not o + accusative.
✅ Rozmawiamy o pracy.
We're talking about work.
❌ Ona rozmawia trzema językami.
Incorrect — speaking a language is mówić, not rozmawiać; and it's mówić W + locative / po + adverb.
✅ Ona mówi w trzech językach. / Mówi po polsku.
She speaks three languages. / She speaks Polish.
❌ Rozmawiałem do szefa.
Incorrect — you converse WITH someone (z), not 'to' (do); 'do' goes with mówić (mówić do kogoś).
✅ Rozmawiałem z szefem.
I talked with the boss.
❌ One rozmawiali o filmie.
Incorrect for a group of women — the non-virile plural is rozmawiały (with one); rozmawiali is virile.
✅ One rozmawiały o filmie.
They (women) talked about the film.
Key Takeaways
- Present: rozmawiam, rozmawiasz, rozmawia, rozmawiamy, rozmawiacie, rozmawiają — regular -am / -asz class, no mutations.
- Past: rozmawiał / rozmawiała; virile rozmawiali vs non-virile rozmawiały; imperfective future będę rozmawiał / rozmawiać.
- Perfective porozmawiać = one bounded conversation ("have a talk"): future porozmawiam … porozmawiają, imperative porozmawiaj! / porozmawiajmy!.
- Government: rozmawiać z + instrumental (partner) + o + locative (topic) — rozmawiam z bratem o pracy; z becomes ze before s/z/ś/ź clusters (ze sobą).
- rozmawiać = converse two-way (needs a partner); mówić / powiedzieć = speak/say one-directionally. Reach for rozmawiać only when you can add z kimś.
- The verb is intransitive — no direct object and no passive participle (rozmawiany does not exist).
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