chce

Chce is the present tense form of the Polish verb chcieć, meaning to want. It is used to express desire, intention, or preference and commonly precedes an infinitive to indicate what someone wants to do, as in Chcę iść, or to name the object of desire, as in Chce kawy.

The present tense forms are: ja chcę, ty chcesz, on/ona/ono chce, my chcemy, wy chcecie, oni/one chcą. The form for first person singular, chcę, includes a diacritic (ę); in everyday text, non-diacritic spellings may appear, but grammatically the distinction is important. The verb is negated with nie: Nie chcę, Nie chce.

Chcieć is often described as a modal-like verb, used with infinitives to express intention or wish. It also appears in questions and polite or hypothetical constructions, such as Czy chcesz pomóc? (Do you want to help?) or Chciałbym zobaczyć to. The expression Chce mi się commonly means “I feel like it” or “I’m in the mood,” as in Chce mi się spać (I feel sleepy / I feel like sleeping).

Etymology: chcieć derives from a Slavic root related to desire and appears in cognate forms across Slavic languages, for example Czech chtít, Russian хотеть, and Ukrainian хотіти, reflecting a shared heritage.

Examples include: Chcę kawy. On chce herbaty. Chcemy iść teraz. Nie chcę tego. Chciałbym zobaczyć to.