Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

### Making Things Happen with "u-"

In Polish, you can often turn an adjective into a verb that means "to make something [adjective]" by adding the prefix **u-** and a verb ending, typically **-ić** or **-yć**. These are called factitive verbs because they express causing a state.

For example, if you want to say you are making something simpler, more efficient, or better, you can take the root of the relevant adjective and form a new verb:
- **sprawny** (efficient, functional) -> **usprawnić** (to streamline, make efficient)
- **prosty** (simple) -> **uprościć** (to simplify)
- **lepszy** (better) -> **ulepszyć** (to improve)

{{item:1019239}}

{{item:1019221}}

{{item:1019219}}

### Facilitating and Hindering

This pattern is extremely useful for talking about changing how difficult or accessible a process is. By adding **u-** to adjectives like **łatwy** (easy), **trudny** (difficult), **możliwy** (possible), and **dostępny** (available, accessible), you create verbs that denote facilitating, hindering, or enabling.

Notice how these verbs often take a Dative pronoun to show *who* is being affected (e.g., to make life easier *for you*, or to make work possible *for us*).

{{item:1019225}}

{{item:1019228}}

{{item:1019230}}

{{item:1019223}}

### Bringing Awareness

Another great example of this pattern is the adjective **świadomy** (aware). 

{{item:1019238}}

By turning it into the verb **uświadomić**, you get "to make aware" or "to realize." When you make someone else aware of something, you use the Dative case for the person receiving the information (literally "to make aware to someone"). 

{{item:1019234}}

{{item:1019235}}

Verbs from adjectives (u-)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

predicative

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

This is (to jest)

The verb to be, singular (być)

Formal address (Pan, Pani)

Demonstrative pronouns (ten, ta, to)

Adjective agreement

Negation (nie)

Basic questions (czy, kto, co, gdzie, jak)

The verb to be, plural (być)

Present tense -m/-sz verbs

Reflexive verbs (się)

Coordinating conjunctions (i, a, ale)

Feminine direct objects (Accusative)

Inanimate direct objects (Accusative)

Animate masculine direct objects (Accusative)

Present tense verbs 2 (-ę, -isz / -ysz)

Expressing location (w, na)

Locative adjective agreement

Professions and nationalities (Instrumental)

Accompaniment (z + Instrumental)

Present tense verbs 3 (-ę, -esz)

Plural possessives (nasz, wasz)

Numbers 1 to 10

Genitive of possession

Genitive of negation

Lack or absence (nie ma)

Basic quantifiers (dużo, mało, trochę)

Liking things (podoba mi się)

Modal verbs (móc, musieć)

Subordinating conjunctions (bo, że)

Unidirectional motion verbs (iść, jechać)

Expressing age (mieć... lat)

Habitual motion (chodzić, jeździć)

Expressing destination (do)

Days of the week (poniedziałek, wtorek...)

Plural nouns for objects and animals

Plural nouns for people

Plural adjective agreement

Accusative object pronouns (go, ją, je...)

The past tense of to be (był)

Singular past tense (-łem, -łam...)

Expressing age (mieć + lata / lat)

Plural past tense (-li / -ły)

Perfective past tense

Future tense (będę + infinitive)

Age: one year (mieć rok)

Prices and currency (złoty, grosz)

Destination (na + accusative)

Non-masculine plurals (-e, -y, -i)

Instrumental pronouns (ze mną, z tobą)

To know (znać vs wiedzieć)

The future perfective tense

The imperative mood

Months of the year (styczeń, luty)

Greetings and farewells (dzień dobry, cześć)

Introducing yourself (mam na imię)

Thank you and sorry (dziękuję, przepraszam)

Left, right, up and down (po lewej stronie)

Parts of the body (ręka, noga)

Parts of the day (dzień, noc, południe)

What is it like? (jaki, jaka, jakie)

Speaking Polish (mówić po polsku)

Instrumental for adjectives (dobrym, dobrą)

Please do... (proszę + infinitive)

Interests (interesować się + Instrumental)

Can one? (można, trzeba, nie wolno)

By bus or by train (jechać autobusem)

Where are you from? (jestem z Polski)

Where exactly? (obok, przy, przed, za, pod, nad)

What time is it? (Która godzina?)

Not seeing her (go, jej, ich; niego, niej, nich)

When I have time (kiedy as a conjunction)

Irregular past stems (miał, mieli)

The verb 'iść' in the past (szedł, szli)

Imperfective future (będę odpoczywał)

Past aspect (robił vs zrobił)

Future aspect (będzie malował vs pomaluje)

Perfective motion with po- (pójść, pojechać)

Arrival verbs with przy- (przyjść, przyjechać)

Departure verbs with wy- (wyjść, wyjechać)

The Vocative case (Panie, Mamo)

Plural possessives (moi, moje)

Reflexive possessive pronouns (swój)

Genitive plural of masculine nouns (-ów, -y, -i)

Genitive plural of feminine and neuter nouns

Genitive plural of adjectives (-ych, -ich)

Accusative plural of masculine personal nouns

Question	Answer
to streamline	usprawnić
We want to streamline this process so that it is more efficient.	Chcemy usprawnić ten proces, żeby był bardziej wydajny.
efficient (functional, working smoothly)	sprawny
to improve	ulepszyć
This old system is not functional, one should improve it.	Ten stary system nie jest sprawny, należy go ulepszyć.
to simplify	uprościć
We must simplify this project for our clients.	Musimy uprościć ten projekt dla naszych klientów.
to make available	udostępnić
Are you able to simplify this report and make it available?	Czy jesteś w stanie uprościć ten raport i go udostępnić?
to make easier	ułatwić
This new application can make your life easier.	Ta nowa aplikacja może ułatwić ci życie.
to make difficult	utrudnić
Instead of making this task easier, you only made it more difficult.	Zamiast ułatwić to zadanie, tylko je utrudniłeś.
Why do you want to make life difficult for all of us?	Dlaczego chcesz nam wszystkim utrudnić życie?
to make possible	umożliwić
The boss made it possible for us to work from home.	Szef umożliwił nam pracę w domu.
aware	świadomy
Are you aware that you must make this data available?	Czy jesteś świadomy, że musisz udostępnić te dane?
to make aware	uświadomić
The doctor made me aware that I must lead a healthy lifestyle.	Lekarz uświadomił mi, że muszę prowadzić zdrowy styl życia.
I would like to make you aware of how important this project is.	Chciałbym uświadomić wam, jak ważny jest ten projekt.
I did this for you in order to improve our relationship.	Zrobiłem to dla ciebie, żeby ulepszyć naszą relację.
We must streamline this process to enable people to work faster.	Musimy usprawnić ten proces, aby umożliwić ludziom szybszą pracę.
As an aware citizen, I always take environmental protection into consideration.	Jako świadomy obywatel, zawsze biorę pod uwagę ochronę środowiska.
An efficient team will streamline this process.	Sprawny zespół usprawni ten proces.