Przegrywa

Przegrywa is the third-person singular present tense form of the Polish verb przegrywać. It translates roughly as “he/she/it loses” or “is losing,” typically referring to losing in a competition, game, or contest, and can also be used more broadly to describe failure to achieve a desired outcome. The form is widely found in everyday speech, sports reporting, and narrative prose.

Linguistic character and tense. Przegrywać is an imperfective verb, indicating an ongoing, repeated, or habitual action rather than a completed event. Its perfective counterpart is przegrać, used for a completed loss, as in przegrał mecz (“he lost the match”). The present tense forms include: ja przegrywam, ty przegrywasz, on przegrywa, my przegrywamy, wy przegrywacie, oni przegrywają.

Usage notes. Przegrywać can take direct objects such as rzeczowniki referring to a match or competition (mecz, zawody, partia) or be used with the preposition z to mean being outplayed by someone (przegrywać z kimś) or outperformed by competition (przegrywać z konkurencją). It can be used literally about sport outcomes or metaphorically to describe failure in efforts, plans, or negotiations.

Etymology. The verb is formed from the root grać (to play) with the prefix prze-, which conveys reversal or defeat, yielding a meaning related to failing to win or being outplayed.

See also. Przegrać, grać, porażka, przegrywanie.