Guide
Common mistakes in Polish B1 writing for Russian, Ukrainian and Georgian speakers
Checked against certyfikatpolski.pl on 7 October 2026
Most points in the writing exam are not lost on hard grammar. They are lost on a few habits carried over from your first language. Knowing yours is the fastest way to raise your score.
If your first language is Russian, Ukrainian or Belarusian
- Accusative endings for feminine nouns: widzę Martę, not widzę Marta.
- Past tense person endings: (ja) poszedłem or poszłam, not ja poszedł. The ending already shows who did it.
- Prepositions that look the same: rozmawiam przez telefon, not po telefonie.
- Masculine personal plural: Słowacy, lekarze, ci studenci, not Słowaki or doktory.
- False friends: uroda means beauty, dywan means carpet, sklep means shop.
- Polish letters and spelling pairs: ł and l, ą and ę, rz and ż, ó and u.
If your first language is Georgian
- Gender agreement: Georgian has no grammatical gender, Polish does. Mój brat, moja siostra, moje dziecko.
- Adjectives must agree too: nowy dom, nowa praca, nowe mieszkanie.
- Past tense shows gender: byłem (a man), byłam (a woman).
- Aspect: robić (doing, repeated) versus zrobić (done, finished). Exam stories usually need the finished form: wczoraj napisałem list.
- Georgian has seven cases, which helps, but Polish case endings after prepositions are different: w pracy, do pracy, z pracy.
Mistakes everyone makes
- Wrong form for the task: no greeting or closing in a letter, or a friendly tone in a letter to an office.
- Skipping one point of the task. It costs task completion points even when the Polish is perfect.
- Writing too little. Count your words before you finish.
Try it on a real task
Write one task in the exam format and get points on the three examiner criteria, with every mistake explained in your language. Free, no signup.
Check my writing, freeQuestions
Which mistakes cost the most points?
Missing a point of the task and writing too little. Both cut the task completion score, which is a third of the total.
How do I find my own typical mistakes?
Write a few tasks and look for what repeats. The free checker on this site marks mistakes typical for your first language.
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