English has one verb "to know"; Polish has three, and they do not overlap. Znać is the acquaintance verb — to know a person, a place, a song, a face: things you are familiar with. This page covers znać (imperfective) and its perfective partner poznać ("get to know, meet, recognise"). The single most important structural fact is that znać takes a direct object in the accusative — znam go "I know him," znam Kraków "I know Kraków," znam tę piosenkę "I know this song." This is exactly where it differs from wiedzieć ("know a fact"), which takes a clause and never a person. "I know him" is znam go, never wiem go. And poznać gives Polish its single most-needed introduction phrase: Miło mi cię poznać "nice to meet you."
Present tense (imperfective znać)
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ja | znam | I know |
| ty | znasz | you know |
| on / ona / ono | zna | he / she / it knows |
| my | znamy | we know |
| wy | znacie | you (pl.) know |
| oni / one | znają | they know |
This is the friendliest conjugation in Polish: the regular -am / -asz class (the same pattern as czytać → czytam, mieszkać → mieszkam, mieć → mam). There are no stem changes and no surprises — a fixed stem zna- plus the endings -m, -sz, —, -my, -cie, -ją. The 3pl znają (not zną) follows the regular -ją of this class. If you can conjugate czytam, you can conjugate znam with zero new effort.
Znam go od liceum, to mój najlepszy przyjaciel.
I've known him since secondary school; he's my best friend.
Czy znasz jakąś dobrą restaurację w okolicy?
Do you know a good restaurant nearby?
Oni znają to miasto lepiej niż przewodnik.
They know this city better than a tour guide. (3pl → znają)
Past tense (znać)
| Subject | Past form | English |
|---|---|---|
| ja (m. / f.) | znałem / znałam | I knew |
| ty (m. / f.) | znałeś / znałaś | you knew |
| on / ona / ono | znał / znała / znało | he / she / it knew |
| my (vir. / non-vir.) | znaliśmy / znałyśmy | we knew |
| wy (vir. / non-vir.) | znaliście / znałyście | you (pl.) knew |
| oni / one | znali / znały | they knew |
The past stem is zna-, fully regular. The only thing to watch is the masculine-personal plural znali (men/mixed) versus non-virile znały (women/things) — the standard virile split. The past of znać usually means "knew (and may no longer)": Znałem go kiedyś "I used to know him."
Znałam ją jeszcze zanim została sławna.
I knew her even before she became famous. (woman speaking)
Moi dziadkowie dobrze znali tę okolicę.
My grandparents knew this area well. (men/mixed → znali)
Future and imperative (znać)
Znać is imperfective, so the future is the compound będę znał / znała ("I will know, I'll be familiar with"):
Za rok będziesz znała pół miasta.
In a year you'll know half the city. (addressing a woman)
The imperative znaj! is used mainly in fixed and slightly elevated expressions — Znaj swoje miejsce "Know your place," Znaj nasze możliwości "See what we can do (literally: know our capabilities)." In everyday speech it's uncommon; the perfective poznaj! ("get to know / meet") is far more frequent.
The perfective partner: poznać
Poznać is the prefixed perfective (po- + znać). It covers three closely related senses, all about a change from not-knowing to knowing:
- get to know / meet (for the first time) — Poznałem ją na studiach "I met her at university."
- recognise — Nie poznałem cię w tych okularach "I didn't recognise you in those glasses."
- become familiar with — chcę poznać polską kuchnię "I want to get to know Polish cuisine."
Because it is perfective, its present-shaped forms are the simple future:
| Person | poznać — future | English |
|---|---|---|
| ja | poznam | I'll meet / get to know |
| ty | poznasz | you'll meet |
| on / ona / ono | pozna | he / she / it will meet |
| my | poznamy | we'll meet |
| wy | poznacie | you (pl.) will meet |
| oni / one | poznają | they'll meet |
| Form | poznać | English |
|---|---|---|
| past (m./f. 1sg) | poznałem / poznałam | I met / recognised |
| past (vir./non-vir. 3pl) | poznali / poznały | they met / recognised |
| imperative (sg / pl) | poznaj! / poznajcie! | meet! / get to know! |
| passive participle | poznany | (got) known, recognised |
Poznałem ją wczoraj na imprezie u Kasi.
I met her yesterday at Kasia's party.
Poznaj moją siostrę — to jest Magda.
Meet my sister — this is Magda.
There is also the reflexive poznać się ("meet each other / get to know one another"): Poznaliśmy się w pracy "We met at work." The contemporary adverbial znając ("knowing") is in everyday use — Znając go, na pewno się spóźni "Knowing him, he's bound to be late."
The all-important phrase: Miło mi cię poznać
The fixed formula for "nice to meet you" is built on poznać plus the accusative clitic of the person:
Miło mi cię poznać!
Nice to meet you! (informal, to one person)
Bardzo mi miło pana poznać.
Very pleased to meet you. (formal, to a man — pana)
Note the case logic: cię / pana is the accusative object of poznać (you are the one being met), while mi is the dative ("it's pleasant to me"). For the full set of greeting and introduction routines, see greetings and introductions.
Government: znać + accusative
The defining pattern is znać + accusative noun — a person, place, or thing you are acquainted with:
Znam tę piosenkę! To Czesław Niemen.
I know this song! It's Czesław Niemen.
Nie znam tego słowa, co ono znaczy?
I don't know this word, what does it mean?
The accusative is what distinguishes znać from wiedzieć at a glance: znać points at an object, wiedzieć at a proposition. See direct object in the accusative.
The three-way split: znać vs wiedzieć vs umieć
| Verb | Knows… | Takes… | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| znać | a person / place / thing (acquaintance) | a noun (accusative) | Znam Annę. / Znam Kraków. |
| wiedzieć | a fact / information | a clause (że…, gdzie…) | Wiem, że ona tu jest. |
| umieć | how to do something (a skill) | an infinitive | Umiem pływać. |
Znam Annę, ale nie wiem, gdzie ona teraz mieszka.
I know Anna, but I don't know where she lives now. (znać + person, wiedzieć + clause)
For the complete decision guide, see wiedzieć vs znać vs umieć and the wiedzieć reference.
Common Mistakes
❌ Wiem go bardzo dobrze.
Incorrect — knowing a person is znać + accusative, not wiedzieć.
✅ Znam go bardzo dobrze.
I know him very well.
❌ Znam, że ona ma rację.
Incorrect — a że-clause (a fact) needs wiedzieć, not znać.
✅ Wiem, że ona ma rację.
I know that she's right.
❌ Wczoraj znam jego brata na koncercie.
Incorrect — a one-time 'met' needs the perfective poznać in the past, not present znać.
✅ Wczoraj poznałem jego brata na koncercie.
Yesterday I met his brother at the concert.
❌ Miło mi ciebie poznać dla pierwszego razu.
Incorrect — the natural formula is simply 'Miło mi cię poznać', with the clitic cię, no extra phrase.
✅ Miło mi cię poznać.
Nice to meet you.
❌ Oni znały to miasto. — when 'they' includes men
Incorrect — a group with men takes the virile znali, not znały.
✅ Oni znali to miasto.
They knew this city.
Key Takeaways
- Present: znam, znasz, zna, znamy, znacie, znają — the easy regular -am/-asz class, no stem changes.
- Past: znał / znała, virile znali vs non-virile znały; future będę znał / znała; imperative znaj (rare).
- Perfective poznać = get to know / meet / recognise: future poznam … poznają, past poznałem, imperative poznaj!.
- Znać takes a noun in the accusative (a person/place/thing); wiedzieć takes a clause (a fact) — znam go vs wiem, że….
- Must-know phrase: Miło mi cię poznać "nice to meet you" (cię = accusative of poznać, mi = dative of pleasantness).
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Start learning Polish→Related Topics
- wiedzieć vs znać vs umieć: Which 'Know'?B1 — English 'know' is three Polish verbs, split by what follows: wiedzieć + clause (a fact), znać + accusative (a person/thing), umieć + infinitive (a skill).
- wiedzieć — to know (a fact)A2 — Full reference for the irregular verb wiedzieć ('to know a fact'): present wiem/wiesz…/wiedzą, past wiedział/wiedziała/wiedzieli/wiedziały, imperative wiedz — and the three-way split wiedzieć vs znać vs umieć.
- 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.
- Greetings and IntroductionsA1 — How to greet and introduce yourself in Polish — dzień dobry / cześć and the strict register split, the two introduction constructions (nazywam się + surname vs mam na imię + first name), Jak się masz? / Jak się pan(i) ma?, and Miło mi as the fixed 'pleased to meet you'.
- Ability and Permission: móc, umieć, potrafić, wolno, możnaA2 — Polish splits English 'can' into several words — móc (situational possibility/permission), umieć and potrafić (learned skill), and the impersonal można and wolno — and choosing the right one is the whole game.