EN
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate semantic similarities and differences between Polish and Russian verbs with suffixes -ну-/-ną-. The analyzed affixes form semantically neutral semelfactive verbs in standard Polish and Russian. The main differ-ence can be observed in the spoken language, in which suffixes -ну-/-ną- form expressive semelfactive verbs. The study shows that the Russian suffix -ну- is more productive as it can be added to almost any durative verb stem and it is part of another suffix -ану-, which does not have an equivalent in Polish. In Polish the expressive character of -ną-verbs can be achieved secondarily as a result of a metaphorization and metonymyzation of semantically neutral verbs.