Przerywa

Przerywa is the third-person singular present tense form of the Polish imperfective verb przerywać, meaning to interrupt or to break off. As an imperfective verb, przerywać describes an ongoing, repeated, or in-progress act of interrupting, in contrast to its perfective counterpart przerwać, which denotes a single, completed interruption.

Grammatical notes: przerywać is conjugated in the present tense as: ja przerywam, ty przerywasz, on/ona przerywa, my przerywamy, wy przerywacie, oni przerywają. The form przerywa marks the subject in the third person singular. It commonly takes a direct object when interrupting an event or speech (for example, przerywa rozmowę – “he interrupts the conversation”) and can also take a dative object when referring to the person interrupted (przerywa mu – “he interrupts him”). The verb conveys aspect more than mood or voice; to express a completed interruption, Polish would use przerwać.

Etymology: przerywać is formed with the prefix prz- added to the root related to rwać (to tear), with meaning that includes breaking off or interrupting. The perfective counterpart is przerwać.

Usage notes: In narrative or descriptive prose, przerywa typically describes an ongoing act of interruption, while przerwać describes a single, decisive interruption. The choice of aspect affects temporal framing: przerywa for habitual or in-progress interruptions; przerwał (past) for a completed interruption. In everyday speech, both forms are common, with the imperfective focusing on the process and the perfective on the result.

See also: przerywać, przerwać, Polish verb aspects.