Polish/Nominative case

Nominative case (mianownik) 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 is generally what is memorized when learning vocabulary. The greatest part of learning the cases is converting from the singular nominative to other cases. Noun Declension 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) Adjective Declension 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 form, nouns in Polish are declined based on gender, either as virile (masculine personal) or nonvirile (masculine animate, masculine inanimate, feminine, and neuter). Noun Declension The apostrophe indicates historical softening. Before continuing, it may be helpful to reference the table of hard and soft consonants. 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 non-neuter stems ending in k, g, ść -i boki, nogi, kości ręceAfter non-neuter stems ending in c, cz, ż, j, l, a, ż, rz-epiece, mecze, garaże, kije, hotele, idee, podróże, burzeAfter non-neuter stems ending in ć, ń, ni, ś, ź-ie (diacritic before i is omitted)płcie, konie, panie, łosie, gałęziedniNeuter nouns ending in um, o, e-a (replaces -um, -o and -e)muzea, miasta, rozwiązaniaoczy, uszy, dzieciNeuter nouns denoting animals and people ending in ę-tadziewczęta, zwierzęta, kociętaAll other neuter nouns ending in ę-iona (-io- replaces -ę)imiona, plemiona, ramionaAnimals ending in w and nouns ending in kiew, giew.-ie (-wie replaces -iew)żółwie, żurawie, pawie, chorągwie, cerkwieIn all other instances-ydziewczyny, komputery *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 Adjective Declension 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 or -ch -si lepsi, głusi 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, oursSingular Masculine mój twój wasz nasz Neuter moje twoje wasze nasze Feminine moja twoja wasza naszaPlural 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 / sameSingular Masculine który jaki ten sam Neuter które jakie to samo Feminine która jaka ta samaPlural Virile którzy jacy ci sami Nonvirile które jakie te same