< Polish
The nominative case is used in the following situations:
- Indicates the subject of a sentence.
- Gosia pisze książkę. - Gosia is writing a book. (Gosia in nominative because she is the subject of the sentence)
- Used for most lone adjectives and sentences of the type "to jest …".
- Piotr jest przystojny. - Piotr is handsome. (przystojny is in the nominative)
- To jest moja żona. - This is my wife. (moja żona is in the nominative)
- Out of context (such as in a dictionary)
The nominative answers the questions who? (kto?) and what? (co?).
Singular
This is the form that is found in dictionaries, so it's generally what is memorized when learning vocabulary. The greatest part of learning the cases is converting from the singular nominative to other cases.
Declension for nouns
| Gender | Ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | -Ø (no ending) | chłopak, kot, pies, komputer, stół |
| Neuter | -o, -e, -ę, -um | dziecko, piwo, spotkanie, imię, muzeum |
| Feminine | -a, -i, -Ø * | dziewczyna, kawa, mrówka, pani, miłość, mysz |
*Stems ending in ń, ś, ść (particularly abstract nouns), and some ending in sz (mysz) and c (noc)
Declension for adjectives
| Gender | Rule | Ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | After most stems | -y | duży, mały, dobry |
| After stems ending in k or g | -i | wysoki, długi, drogi | |
| Neuter | After most stems | -e | duże, małe, dobre |
| After stems ending in k or g | -ie | wysokie, długie, drogie | |
| Feminine | After all stems | -a | duża, mała, dobra, wysoka, długa, droga |
Plural
In the plural, declension by gender is divided into virile (masculine personal) and nonvirile (masculine animate, masculine inanimate, feminine, and neuter).
Declension for nouns
The apostrophe indicates historical softening. It is helpful to review the hard and soft consonants table before continuing.
| Gender | Rule | Ending | Examples | Exceptions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virile | After stems ending in hard consonants other than k, g, or r | -'i (stems change)* | mężczyźni, chłopi | |
| Titles, jobs, family members, surnames, some nationalities | -owie | panowie, mężowie, Belgowie, profesorowie | bracia, księża | |
| After nationalities ending in -in | -ie (replaces -in) | Rosjanie, Amerykanie | ||
| After stems ending in rz, sz, cz, j, l, ć, ń, and ś | -e | lekarze, słuchacze, górale | królowie | |
| After stems ending in c, ca, g, k, r | -'y (stems change)* | kierowcy, kalecy, koledzy, inżynierzy, | ludzie | |
| After stems ending in iec, niec | -(ń)cy (replaces -(n)iec) | chłopcy, Niemcy, mieszkańcy | ||
| Nonvirile | After all stems | -e |
*Stems ending in certain hard consonants change as follows:
| Stem ending | Nominative plural ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -ch | -si | Czesi, Włosi |
| -d | -dzi | sąsiedzi, Szwedzi |
| -ł | -li | diabli |
| -st | -ści | dentyści, specjaliści |
| -t | -ci | studenci, poeci |
| -g | -dzy | koledzy, Norwedzy |
| -k | -cy | kalecy, Polacy |
| -r | -rzy | inżynierzy, doktorzy |
Declension for adjectives
| Gender | Rule | Ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virile | After stems ending in -d | -dzi | młodzi |
| After stems ending in -g | -dzy | drodzy | |
| After stems ending in -k | -cy | brzydcy | |
| After stems ending in -(z)ł | -(ź)li | źli | |
| After stems ending in -n | -ni | smutni | |
| After stems ending in -r | -rzy | starzy | |
| After stems ending in -sz | -si | lepsi | |
| After stems ending in -t | -ci | bogaci | |
| After stems ending in -w | -wi | ciekawi | |
| After stems ending in -ż | -zi | duzi | |
| Nonvirile | After most stems | -e | młode, złe, smutne, stare, lepsze, bogate, ciekawe, duże |
| After stems ending in k or g | -ie | drogie, brzydkie |
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
| English | Nominative |
|---|---|
| nothing | nic |
| no one | nikt |
| I | ja |
| you (singular) | ty |
| he | on |
| she | ona |
| it | ono |
| you (formal masculine) | pan + 3rd person singular verb |
| you (formal feminine) | pani + 3rd person singular verb |
| we | my |
| you (informal plural) | wy |
| you (formal masculine plural) | panowie + 3rd person plural verb |
| you (formal feminine plural) | panie + 3rd person plural verb |
| you (formal mixed gender plural) | państwo + 3rd person plural verb |
| they (masculine or mixed gender) | oni |
| they (feminine) | one |
Possessive pronouns
| Gender | my, mine | your, yours (singular) | your, yours (plural) | our, ours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Masculine | mój | twój | wasz | nasz |
| Neuter | moje | twoje | wasze | nasze | |
| Feminine | moja | twoja | wasza | nasza | |
| Plural | Virile | moi | twoi | wasi | nasi |
| Nonvirile | moje | twoje | wasze | nasze |
Interrogative pronouns
| English | Nominative |
|---|---|
| what? | co? |
| who? | kto? |
| where? | gdzie? |
| when? | kiedy? |
| How? | jak? |
| How much? | ile? |
Relative, demonstrative, and intensive pronouns
| Gender | which / who | what / what kind | this / that | self / same | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Masculine | który | jaki | ten | sam |
| Neuter | które | jakie | to | samo | |
| Feminine | która | jaka | ta | sama | |
| Plural | Virile | którzy | jacy | ci | sami |
| Nonvirile | które | jakie | te | same |
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