Perfective partners: napisać, zrobić

Most Polish action verbs come in pairs. The imperfective verb (pisać) names the activity or a repeated action; its perfective partner (napisać) names one finished action with a result. Most perfectives are made with a prefix, and each verb has its own, so learn the pairs together:

• na-: pisać → napisać, rysować → narysować
• prze-: czytać → przeczytać
• u-, wy-, po-, za-: myć → umyć, pić → wypić, prosić → poprosić, dzwonić → zadzwonić
• z- before voiced sounds (zrobić, zgubić), s- before voiceless ones (skończyć, stracić)

Careful: some prefixes change the meaning and make a new verb, not a partner: zapisać (to write down), przepisać (to copy out), popić (to wash down).