Going on foot and going by vehicle are only the start. Polish applies the same determinate/indeterminate split to flying, swimming, carrying, transporting and running — and here the system reveals a deeper twist. The indeterminate member frequently drifts away from pure "motion in general" and lexicalises into a state or habit that English renders with an entirely different verb: nosić becomes "to wear," pływać becomes "to know how to swim." Recognising this is the difference between sounding fluent and sounding translated.
lecieć / latać — fly
lecieć (determinate): one flight, in progress or imminent. latać (indeterminate): flying repeatedly, the general activity of flying, or a habit of taking flights.
Patrz, samolot leci tak nisko, że widać podwozie.
Look, the plane is flying so low you can see its landing gear.
Często latam do Stanów w interesach.
I often fly to the States on business.
latać also covers the everyday colloquial sense of "dash about" — Dzieci latają po podwórku "The kids are running around the yard" — a multidirectional, no-fixed-goal meaning that fits the indeterminate slot perfectly.
płynąć / pływać — swim, sail, flow
płynąć (determinate): one course through water — a person, a boat, even a river — heading somewhere now. pływać (indeterminate): swimming about, sailing regularly, and crucially the ability to swim.
Statek płynie do Świnoujścia, dopłynie nad ranem.
The ship is sailing to Świnoujście, it'll arrive towards morning.
Umiem pływać, ale nie skoczę z trampoliny.
I can swim, but I won't jump off the diving board.
Note the lexicalised ability: Umiem pływać is "I know how to swim," not "I am swimming around." For the act happening now you would say płynę — Płynę do brzegu "I'm swimming to the shore." The verb also means "flow": Wisła płynie przez Warszawę "The Vistula flows through Warsaw" (a fixed course → determinate).
nieść / nosić — carry in the hands (and "wear")
nieść (determinate): carrying something somewhere right now, one trip. nosić (indeterminate): carrying around habitually — and, by a famous extension, to wear clothing, glasses, a beard, a name.
Niosę zakupy na czwarte piętro, winda nie działa.
I'm carrying the shopping up to the fourth floor, the lift is out of order.
Noszę okulary od dziesiątego roku życia.
I've worn glasses since I was ten.
Do biura noszę garnitur, w weekend dżinsy.
I wear a suit to the office and jeans at the weekend.
The "wear" sense is pure lexicalisation: from "carry on oneself repeatedly" comes "habitually have on." It is one of the highest-value extensions to learn, because clothing comes up constantly and English gives no hint that a motion verb is hiding inside it.
wieźć / wozić — transport by vehicle
The cargo counterpart of jechać / jeździć: carrying something in a vehicle rather than in your hands. wieźć (determinate): one delivery in progress. wozić (indeterminate): transporting habitually or to-and-fro.
Wiozę dzieci na trening, oddzwonię z parkingu.
I'm driving the kids to practice, I'll call back from the car park.
Codziennie wożę córkę do szkoły i z powrotem.
Every day I drive my daughter to school and back.
If you carry it in your hands → nieść / nosić; if it rides in a vehicle → wieźć / wozić. Polish keeps the on-foot vs by-vehicle split even for carrying.
biec / biegać — run
biec (determinate): running in one direction now — often urgent. biegać (indeterminate): running about, or the habit of jogging / running for sport.
Biegnę na pociąg, nie zdążę oddzwonić!
I'm running for the train, I won't have time to call back!
Biegam co rano przed pracą, jakieś pięć kilometrów.
I jog every morning before work, about five kilometres.
Note the present stem of biec: it inserts gn → biegnę, biegniesz, biegnie, biegniemy, biegniecie, biegną, with the past biegł, biegła, biegli, biegły. biegać is regular: biegam, biegasz… biegają.
A reference table
| Meaning | Determinate (now, one way) | Indeterminate (habit / ability / around) | Lexicalised sense of the indeterminate |
|---|---|---|---|
| fly | lecieć | latać | fly regularly; dash about |
| swim, sail, flow | płynąć | pływać | know how to swim |
| carry in hand | nieść | nosić | wear (clothes, glasses) |
| transport by vehicle | wieźć | wozić | ferry to-and-fro |
| run | biec | biegać | jog / run for sport |
A note on spelling — these stems are diacritic-heavy
These verbs concentrate exactly the letters learners drop. The determinate infinitives carry soft endings: lecieć, płynąć, nieść, wieźć, biec. The nasal ą in płynąć and ciągnąć, the ś in nieść, the ź in wieźć, the ł in płynąć — each is part of the word, not decoration. Compare also ciągnąć (pull/drag), a determinate verb in the same family, whose past is ciągnął, ciągnęła, ciągnęli, ciągnęły.
How this differs from English
English does not pair its motion verbs at all, and — more sharply — it does not see "wear" or "can swim" as motion verbs in the first place. So the persistent error is not choosing the wrong member; it is not realising a member exists. An English speaker thinking "wear" will hunt for a stative verb and never arrive at nosić; thinking "can swim" they will look for a modal-plus-verb and never reach umiem pływać. The fix is to memorise the lexicalised meanings as vocabulary in their own right, alongside the literal motion sense.
A second, subtler trap: English "fly," "swim," and "run" are aspect- and direction-neutral, so when a learner means a single urgent action ("I'm running for the train") they may default to the indeterminate biegam — which would describe their jogging hobby, not the dash they are doing right now.
Common Mistakes
❌ Niosę okulary, bo mam słaby wzrok.
Incorrect — 'wear glasses' is the habitual nosić, not the one-trip nieść.
✅ Noszę okulary, bo mam słaby wzrok.
I wear glasses because my eyesight is poor.
❌ Mój brat umie płynąć od piątego roku życia.
Incorrect — the ability to swim is the indeterminate pływać.
✅ Mój brat umie pływać od piątego roku życia.
My brother has been able to swim since he was five.
❌ Spóźnię się, biegam teraz na autobus!
Incorrect — one urgent run right now is the determinate biec.
✅ Spóźnię się, biegnę teraz na autobus!
I'll be late, I'm running for the bus now!
❌ W przyszłym tygodniu latam do Londynu na konferencję.
Incorrect — one specific upcoming flight is the determinate lecieć.
✅ W przyszłym tygodniu lecę do Londynu na konferencję.
Next week I'm flying to London for a conference.
❌ Codziennie wiozę syna na trening i wracam po godzinie.
Incorrect — an everyday there-and-back run is the indeterminate wozić.
✅ Codziennie wożę syna na trening i wracam po godzinie.
Every day I drive my son to practice and come back an hour later.
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Start learning Polish→Related Topics
- Verbs of Motion: Determinate vs IndeterminateB1 — Polish splits 'go' into pairs of imperfective verbs distinguished by direction and manner: determinate (one trip, now) vs indeterminate (habitual, multidirectional, round-trip).
- iść versus chodzić (Going on Foot)B1 — The most important motion pair: determinate iść (one trip on foot, now) versus indeterminate chodzić (habitual going, walking around, the ability to walk, and 'attend').
- jechać versus jeździć (Going by Vehicle)B1 — The by-vehicle motion pair: determinate jechać (one journey, now) versus indeterminate jeździć (commuting, round trips, and the skill of driving or riding) — with the vehicle in the bare instrumental.
- Prefixed Motion Verbs: pójść, przyjść, wyjść, wejśćB2 — How directional prefixes turn motion verbs into perfective/imperfective aspect pairs: prefix + determinate root = perfective, prefix + indeterminate root = imperfective.
- płynąć / ciągnąć — the -nąć verbsB2 — Full conjugation of płynąć 'flow/swim/sail' and ciągnąć 'pull', the -nąć class, with its ą/ę nasal flip in the past and its strong aspect cues.
- piec / biec — to bake / to run (the -c infinitives)B2 — Full conjugation of piec 'bake' and biec 'run', the velar-stem verbs whose infinitive ends in -c, with their k↔cz and g↔ż alternations.