Questions & Answers about Dzieci gonią psa w ogrodzie.
Why is the verb gonią and not something like goną or goni?
The infinitive (dictionary form) is gonić – “to chase.”
In the sentence, the subject is dzieci (children), which is 3rd person plural.
Polish present-tense endings for -ić verbs look like this (using gonić):
- ja (I) – gonię
- ty (you sg.) – gonisz
- on/ona/ono (he/she/it) – goni
- my (we) – gonimy
- wy (you pl.) – gonicie
- oni/one (they) – gonią
So with dzieci (they) you must use the 3rd person plural form gonią.
Forms like goną simply don’t exist; goni would be 3rd person singular (“he/she/it chases”), which doesn’t match the plural subject dzieci.
How can gonią mean both “chase” and “are chasing”?
Polish has only one present tense, and it usually covers both English:
- present simple: They chase the dog every day.
- present continuous: They are chasing the dog (right now).
The form gonią can therefore be translated as:
- “they chase” (habitual action), or
- “they are chasing” (action happening now),
depending on context. The Polish verb form itself does not distinguish these two uses.