iść versus chodzić (Going on Foot) | Polish Grammar

If you learn only one motion pair, learn this one. iść / chodzić ("go on foot") is the highest-frequency motion contrast in Polish, and it sets the template for all the others. Both verbs are imperfective; the difference is whether you mean one trip, on foot, happening now (iść) or going habitually, walking around, or being able to walk at all (chodzić). Get this pair into your bones and the rest of the system follows the same logic.

iść — the determinate: this trip, this direction, now

Use iść for a single walk in one direction, in progress at the moment of speaking or just about to begin. It is the verb of "I'm on my way."

Idę do pracy, zadzwonię do ciebie z biura.

I'm walking to work, I'll call you from the office.

Idziemy do kina o ósmej — dołączysz?

We're going to the cinema at eight — will you join us?

Dokąd idziesz tak późno?

Where are you going so late?

Even when the trip is in the near future, if it is a single planned trip in one direction, iść is natural: Jutro idę do dentysty "I'm going to the dentist tomorrow." What matters is one trip, one heading — not the exact clock time.

chodzić — the indeterminate: habit, wandering, ability, "attend"

chodzić covers a cluster of meanings that English handles with completely different words. This is where most errors live, so take each meaning in turn.

1. Habitual / repeated going. You do this trip regularly.

Chodzę do pracy pieszo, to tylko dziesięć minut.

I walk to work — it's only ten minutes.

2. Walking around with no single direction — pacing, strolling, moving about a space.

Nie mogę usiedzieć, chodzę po pokoju i myślę.

I can't sit still, I pace around the room and think.

3. The general ability or act of walking — crucially, "the baby walks now."

Babcia po operacji już chodzi o własnych siłach.

After the operation, Grandma can already walk on her own.

4. "To attend" a school, university, class, or church — a fixed Polish idiom built on the habitual sense.

Chodzę na uniwersytet, jestem na drugim roku.

I go to university — I'm in my second year.

Moja córka chodzi do przedszkola od rana do piętnastej.

My daughter goes to nursery from the morning until three.

💡

chodzić is a four-in-one verb: habitual going, aimless walking around, the ability to walk, and "to attend." None of these four ideas can ever be expressed with iść.

The contrast in one minimal pair

Put the same destination after both verbs and the difference is unmistakable.

Idę do tego sklepu — potrzebuję mleka.

I'm going to that shop [now] — I need milk.

Chodzę do tego sklepu, bo jest najbliżej.

I [regularly] go to that shop because it's the closest.

Idę do tego sklepu is the trip you are on this minute. Chodzę do tego sklepu is your shopping habit. Same shop, same preposition (do + genitive), entirely different verb.

Conjugating iść (present) — irregular and high-frequency

iść has an irregular present built on the stem idź-/idą-. You must know these forms cold.

Person	Form	English
ja	idę	I'm going
ty	idziesz	you're going
on / ona / ono	idzie	he / she / it is going
my	idziemy	we're going
wy	idziecie	you (pl.) are going
oni / one	idą	they're going

Note the spelling: the first-person singular and third-person plural keep the bare d (idę, idą — both with the nasal ą/ę), while the other forms soften to dzi (idziesz, idzie, idziemy, idziecie). The fuller paradigm with imperative and other tenses is on the iść reference page.

The suppletive past of iść — szedł / szła

Here Polish springs a genuinely hard surprise, so I will not pretend it is regular: the past tense of iść is suppletive. It is not built from the idź- stem at all but from an entirely different root, szed-/sz-. There is no logic to memorise — you simply learn it.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
ja	szedłem	szłam	—
ty	szedłeś	szłaś	—
on / ona / ono	szedł	szła	szło
my	szliśmy	szłyśmy	—
wy	szliście	szłyście	—
oni / one	szli	szły	—

Watch the vowel jump: the masculine singular is szedł (with e and ł), but the feminine drops the e entirely — szła — and the masculine-personal plural is szli, the other plural szły. The full ł is essential; szedl and szla are misspellings.

Szedłem przez park, kiedy zaczęło padać.

I [m.] was walking through the park when it started to rain.

Szła powoli, bo bolała ją noga.

She was walking slowly because her leg hurt.

💡

The past of iść comes from a different root: szedł (he), szła (she), szli/szły (they). Don't try to derive it from idę — there's no rule, only memorisation.

Conjugating chodzić — regular -isz type

By contrast, chodzić is a well-behaved second-conjugation (-isz type) verb, and its past is regular.

Person	Present	Past (m. / f.)
ja	chodzę	chodziłem / chodziłam
ty	chodzisz	chodziłeś / chodziłaś
on / ona / ono	chodzi	chodził / chodziła / chodziło
my	chodzimy	chodziliśmy / chodziłyśmy
wy	chodzicie	chodziliście / chodziłyście
oni / one	chodzą	chodzili / chodziły

The only thing to watch is the dz → dź softening in the third-person plural ending: chodzą keeps the hard dz, the rest of the present has dzi. More forms are on the chodzić reference page.

A short dialogue

Here the two verbs do their natural work in conversation.

— Dokąd idziesz? — Do biblioteki, muszę oddać książki.

— Where are you going? — To the library, I have to return some books.

— Często tam chodzisz? — Chodzę co tydzień, lubię tę ciszę.

— Do you go there often? — I go every week, I like the quiet.

The first exchange is about the trip happening now (idziesz); the second is about the habit (chodzisz / chodzę). A learner who used idziesz for "do you go there often" would be misunderstood as asking "are you on your way there now?"

How this differs from English

English has no two-verb split for walking. It marks the same distinction with tense and adverbs: "I'm going" (progressive) versus "I go / I usually go" (simple present). Three traps follow from this:

English "I go to school" maps to chodzę (habit), but English "I'm going to school" maps to idę — and a learner who reaches for the textbook present "I go → idę" gets it backwards.
English uses walk for the ability ("the baby walks now"), and there is a strong pull to use the trip-verb; Polish insists on chodzi.
English "attend university" has no motion at all, but Polish expresses it with chodzić na/do — a usage you cannot guess.

Common Mistakes

❌ Chodzę teraz do domu, jestem zmęczony.

Incorrect — a single trip happening now must be determinate.

✅ Idę teraz do domu, jestem zmęczony.

I'm going home now, I'm tired.

❌ Codziennie idę na basen przed pracą.

Incorrect — 'every day' is a habit, so the indeterminate verb is required.

✅ Codziennie chodzę na basen przed pracą.

I go to the pool every day before work.

❌ Mój synek ma roczek i już idzie sam.

Incorrect — the ability to walk is never iść.

✅ Mój synek ma roczek i już chodzi sam.

My little boy is one and can already walk by himself.

❌ Ona idzie do liceum w centrum miasta.

Incorrect — 'attends a school' is chodzić, not iść.

✅ Ona chodzi do liceum w centrum miasta.

She goes to a high school in the city centre.

❌ Wczoraj szłem do kina.

Incorrect — the masculine past keeps the e: szedłem, not szłem.

✅ Wczoraj szedłem do kina.

Yesterday I [m.] was going to the cinema.

The last one is a spelling-and-form trap even some learners with good grammar fall into: the masculine ja form is szedłem, not the feminine-pattern szłem.

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