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

### Verbs from Comparatives

Just like you can form verbs from adjectives using the prefix **u-**, you can also form them from the **comparative** degree of adjectives. By taking the comparative root and adding the prefix **po-**, **z-**, or **s-**, along with a verb ending (usually **-yć** or **-ić**), you create a verb meaning "to make something *more* [adjective]".

For example, taking words for big and small:
- **większy** (bigger) -> **powiększyć** (to enlarge) or **zwiększyć** (to increase)
- **mniejszy** (smaller) -> **pomniejszyć** (to reduce, scale down) or **zmniejszyć** (to decrease)

Note that **zwiększyć** is typically used for increasing abstract quantities or intensity (like a budget or production), while **powiększyć** is used for physical size, scale, or volume (like a photo or a team).

{{item:1019467}}

{{item:1019472}}

{{item:1019474}}

### Improving and Worsening

This same pattern applies to the irregular comparatives for "good" and "bad":
- **lepszy** (better) -> **polepszyć** (to improve)
- **gorszy** (worse) -> **pogorszyć** (to worsen)

{{item:1019477}}

If something worsens *on its own* or changes state rather than someone directly making it worse, you add the reflexive pronoun **się**.

{{item:1019496}}

{{item:1019480}}

### Adjusting Dimensions

You can easily talk about adjusting dimensions or expanding systems by adding the prefix **po-** to the comparative forms of dimensional adjectives:
- **szerszy** (wider) -> **poszerzyć** (to widen)
- **głębszy** (deeper) -> **pogłębić** (to deepen)
- **grubszy** (thicker) -> **pogrubić** (to thicken, make text bold)

Notice how these physical verbs are often used metaphorically, such as "deepening knowledge."

{{item:1019482}}

{{item:1019485}}

{{item:1019494}}

### Becoming Cheaper or More Expensive

So far, the verbs we've seen ended in **-yć** or **-ić** and meant "to *make* something [adjective]." However, Polish also has verbs that mean "to *become* [adjective]." These often take the ending **-eć**. 

For talking about prices, we use the prefixes **z-** and **s-**:
- **droższy** (more expensive) -> **zdrożeć** (to become more expensive)
- **tańszy** (cheaper) -> **stanieć** (to become cheaper)

{{item:1019488}}

{{item:1019491}}

Verbs from comparatives (z- / s- / po-)

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 increase (transitive, make something larger)	zwiększyć
We must increase the budget, instead of reducing it.	Musimy zwiększyć budżet, zamiast go zmniejszyć.
to improve (conditions or state)	polepszyć
Please increase production to improve quality.	Proszę zwiększyć produkcję, aby polepszyć jakość.
to enlarge	powiększyć
When he arrives, we will enlarge our team.	Kiedy on przyjedzie, powiększymy nasz zespół.
This is a chance to enlarge our team.	To jest szansa, aby powiększyć nasz zespół.
to reduce (scale down or deduct)	pomniejszyć
Please reduce this photo.	Proszę pomniejszyć to zdjęcie.
Can I reduce this window in the system?	Czy mogę pomniejszyć to okno w systemie?
Besides him, no one can improve this situation.	Oprócz niego, nikt nie może polepszyć tej sytuacji.
We did this to improve the quality.	Zrobiliśmy to, by polepszyć jakość.
Let them improve this situation!	Niech oni polepszą tę sytuację!
to worsen	pogorszyć
You can see that grandpa's health has worsened.	Widać, że zdrowie dziadka się pogorszyło.
to widen	poszerzyć
We want to widen this corridor.	Chcemy poszerzyć ten korytarz.
When will you widen this street?	Kiedy poszerzycie tę ulicę?
to deepen	pogłębić
We must deepen our knowledge.	Musimy pogłębić naszą wiedzę.
This error can deepen the crisis.	Ten błąd może pogłębić kryzys.
to become more expensive	zdrożeć
You can hear that petrol will become more expensive soon.	Słychać, że benzyna niedługo zdrożeje.
to become cheaper	stanieć
Instead of becoming cheaper, everything became more expensive.	Zamiast stanieć, wszystko zdrożało.
We hope that food will become cheaper soon.	Mamy nadzieję, że jedzenie niedługo stanieje.
When will bread finally become cheaper?	Kiedy chleb wreszcie stanieje?
to thicken	pogrubić
Please make this text bold.	Proszę pogrubić ten tekst.
Instead of thickening the wall, we must destroy it.	Zamiast pogrubić ścianę, musimy ją zniszczyć.
Stress worsened his health.	Stres pogorszył jego zdrowie.