Methods, systems, and devices for polarity-conditioned memory cell write operations are described. A memory cell may be written with a logic state by performing a write operation that includes applying a first write voltage across the memory cell with a first polarity, and applying a second write voltage across the memory cell after applying the first write voltage of the write operation, the second write voltage of the write operation having a second polarity that is different than the first polarity. In some examples, performing a write operation on a memory cell having different voltage polarities across the memory call may allow such a write operation to be completed in a shorter time than a write operation having a voltage of a single polarity.