32 Polish Verbs & Essentials of Grammar Lidia, Lidka, Lidzia Liliana, Lila, Lilcia, Lilka, Lilianka Lucyna, Lúea, Lucusia, Lusia, Lucynka, Lucia Ludwika, Lusia, Ludka, Ludzia Magdalena, Magda, Madzia, Magdusia, Magdalenka Maja, Majka, Majeczka Matgorzata, Malgosia, Gosia, Malgoska, Goska María, Marysia, Marys, Marynia Mariola, Mariolka Marta, Marcia, Martunia, Martusia Maryla, Marylka Marzena, Marzenka Miroslawa, Mirka, Mirusia, Mira Monika, Moniczka, Monisia, Misia, Nika, Monia, Mona Natalia, Tala, Natalka, Natka, Nati Olga, Ola, Olenka, Olka, Olgusia Oliwia, Oliwka, O la Patrycja, Pati, Patka Paulina, Paulinka, Paula Regina, Reginka, Rena Renata, Reñía, Renatka Roza, Rózia, Rózyczka Stanislawa, Stasia, Staska Stefania, Stefa, Stefcia, Stefka Sylwia, Sylwiunia, Sylwka, Sylwcia Teresa, Teresía, Reñía, Terenia, Tereska Urszula, Ula, Urszulka, Ulka, Usía Wanda, Wandzia Weronika, Weroniczka, Weronka, Wera, W erka, Nika Wieslawa, Wiesia, Wieska Wiktoria, Wika, Wiktorka, Wiki Zofia, Zosia, Zosieñka , Zoska 3. Pronouns Singular ja ty on on a on o I y ou (sg.) he she it Personal Pronouns Plural my we w y y ou O/.) oni they (masc.pers.) on e they (non-masc.pers.) Other co what nic nothing kto who nikt no one Th e pronoun on i is used for both all-male an d mixed male an d female groups; one is used for groups that have no male persons. Personal pro- nouns, especially first- and second-person pronouns, are normally not used as the subjects of verbs except fo r emphasis; henee, on e usually says robi$ / do instead of ja robi£ / do. The pronoun kto is considere d masculine for purposes of agreement, even when it refers to a group of women: Kt o jest glodny? Who is hungry? Th e pronouns n ic an d nikt ar e used with a negated verb. Ni c nie rozumiem. Nikt tu nie mieszka. I don't understand anythin^ No one lives here. Pronouns of Polite, Formal Address Singular Plural pa n sir, you, Mr. panowie pañi madam, you, Mrs., panie Miss, Ms. pañstwo sirs, y ou (masc.pers.pl.) madams, y ou (fem.pl.) ladies and gentlemen, you, Mr. and Mrs. Th e title pañstwo looks like a singular form, but it is considered masculine personal plural for purposes of verb and adjective agreement. It refers to a group of male and female persons individually referred to as pan and pañi, and it also refers to a married couple, as in pañstwo Zieliñscy Mr . andMrs. Zielinski. The pronouns of polite, formal address show respect an d distance. They ar e used to address a stranger, a person one does no t know well, or a person of authority or ititus, Th e informal ty yo u and its pl ural, wy, convey friend-
liness, closeness, an d familiari ty . They are used to address fam ily members,
cióse friends, and pets. Their us e with strangers or superiors is apt to soundrude. For more information on the use of pronouns, see Chapter 9.
Personal pronouns show a full range of case form s, summarized in the
following charts.
Interrogative and N egativa Pronouns
Nom.Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
Instr.
Loe.
First- and
Nom.
Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
Instr.
Loe.
co whatczego
czemu
co
czym
czym
nic nothingniczego, nic
niczemu
nic
niczym
niczym
kto whokogo
komu
kogo
kim
kim
nikt no onenikogo
nikomu
nikogo
nikim
nikim
Second-Person Pronouns
ja /mniemi , mniemniem n q
mnie
ty you (sg.)
ci$, ciebie
ci, tobie
ci$, ciebie
tob^
tobie
m y we
ñas
nam
ñas
n a m i
ñas
wa swam
was
wami
was
The longer forms mnie, ciebie, and tobie are emphatic; they are also auto-mat ical ly used after prepositions. Accusative mnie is often pronounced, bu t
rarely spelled,
Third-Person Singular Pronouns
Nom. on he, it
Gen. go, jego, niego
Dat . mu, jemu, niemu
Acc. go, jego, niego
Instr. nim
Loe. nim
on a she, it on o it
jej, niej go, jego, niego
jej, niej mu, jemu, niemu
j^, nh| je, nie
ni 3 ni mniej nim
The longer form jego is emphatic; i t is also automatically used after preposi-
tions. After a preposi tion, forms beginning in i- or j- lose the i- or j- andsubsti tute ni - instead: dí a + ich — > dí a nich to them, bez + jej — > bez niejwithout her.
Third-Person Plural Pronouns
Nom. oni they (masc.pers.)
Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
Instr.
Loe.
ich, nich
im, nim
ich, nich
nimi
nich
one they (other)
ich, nich
im, nim
je, nie
nimi
nich
Pronouns 35
Third-Person Pronouns of Formal Address
Nom.
Gen.
Dat.
Acc.Instr.
Loe. .
Voc.
Nom.Gen.
Dat.
Acc.Instr.
Loe.Voc.
panyou (mase.)
pana
panu
pana
p anem
panu
panie
paniyou (fem.)
pañi
pañi
pani q
pani q
pañi
pañi
panowie (pl. of pan)
panów
panom
panów
panami
panach
panowie
panie (pl. of pañi)
pan
paniom
panie
paniami
paniach
panie
pañstwo^ow(masc.pers.pl.)
pañstwa
paristwu
pañstwa
pañstwem
panstwu
pañstwo
pañstwojw(addresses a groupofbothmaleand
female persons
referred to
individually as
pan and pañi)
Reflexive Pronouns
Nom. —
Gen. siebie, si^Dat.
Acc.
sobie, se
siebie, si$
Instr.
Loe. sobie
The dative reflexive form se is restricted to highly informal speech.
Possessive Pronouns
The possessive pronouns m ój moja moje my/mine, twój twoja
yours (sg.), nasz nasza nasze our/ours, an d wasz wasza wasze your/yours(pl.) have complete declensions in terms of gender, case, an d number, m
contrast to the genit ive-only forms jego his, its, jej her/hers, an d ich íheir/
theirs. The possessive of pan you (m asc . pe rs . form al) is indeclinable pana(or, more formally, declinable pañski), and the possessive of pañi your
(fem. form al) is pañi. The reflexive possessive p ronoun swój swoje swojaones ow n, with endings like mój, is used instead of the other possessive
pronouns to m odify a noun in the complement of a sentence when the pos-sessor is also th e subject of the sentence: O n idzie ze swoj^ narzeczon^. He
is c om ing with hisfiancée. The possessive pronoun swój swoje swoja is not
used to modify th e subject of a sentence, ñor is it used after th e verb by c
Masc.Pers.Pl. Other Pl. •nasinaszychnaszym= Gen.naszyminaszych
nasze JB
naszych flnaszym •= Nom. Hnaszymi flnaszych H
jaki jaka jakie what, what k ind (relative and
Nom.Gen.Dat.
Acc.Instr.
Loe.
Mase.jakijakiegojakiemu= Nom./Gen.jakim
jakim
Fem.jakajakiejjakiejjak^jakq
jakiej
Neut.jakiejakiegojakiemu= Nom.jakim
jakim
interrogative pronoun)
Masc.Pers.Pl.
j a c yjakichjakim= Gen.jakimi
jakich
Other Pl .jakiejakichjakim= Nom.jakimi
jakichThe possessive pronoun wasz wasza wasze your/yours (pl.) is declined like
nasz nasza nasze.
Demonstrative and Relative Pronoun s
Polish has no indefinite an d definite articles analogous to English a/an an d
the. Context indicates whether a noun is definite or indefinite. Thus, stól
m ay mean either a table or the table. Often, placement of a noun in a sen-
tence indicates whether i t is definite (init ial position) or indefinite (final po -
sition); compare Stól stoi w k^cie. The table s tands in the córner, an d Wkqcie stoi stól. In the córner s tands a t ab l e . Definiteness may be empha-
sized by using the demonstrative pronoun ten ta to this, that. Both demon-
strative and relative pronouns have complete declensions in terms of gender,
case, and number.
ten ta to this, that (demonstrative pronoun)
Nom.
Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
Instr.
Loe.
Mase.
te ntego
t emu= Nom./Gen.t y mt y m
Fem.ta
te jte j
t ej
Neut .totegot emu
= Nom.t y mt y m
Masc.Pers.Pl.citycht y m= Gen.t y m it ych
Other Pl.
tet ych
t y m= Nom.t y m it ych
The difference between który która które andjaki jaka jakie as an inter-
rogative pronoun is one of specificity: Który film chcesz obejrzec? Which
movie do you want to see? asks which movie out of a limited number, while
Jaki film chcesz obejrzec? What kind offilm do y o u want t o s ee? does no t
l imi t the range of possible films.
Intensive Pronouns
sa m sama samo self, same, very
Mase. Fem.Nom. sam samaGen. samego samejDat. samemu samejAcc. = Nom./Gen. samqInstr. samym sam^Loe. samym samej
The intensive pronoun is used in expressions like the following:
Neut .samo
samegosamemu
= Nom.s am ym
s am ym
Masc.Pers.Pl.sa m
samychs am ym
= Gen.
s a m y m isamych
Other Pl.
samesamych
s am ym= Nom.
s am ym i
samych
Czy robisz to sam?Cz y mieszkasz sama?To jest ten sam czlowiek.Czy mieszkasz w tym samym domu?
Th e negative of kazdy kazda kazde is zadcn zadna z a dne no , none, no t
an y \ it is always accompanied by nie.
Kazdy stól jest zajf ty .Zaden stól nie jest zaj^ty. Every table is occupied.No table is occupied.
4. Adjectives
Declension of Adjectives
Adjectives have different forms that correspond to noun genders, as well as
a complete set of case endings in both th e singular an d plural (except for the
vocative plural, which is the same as the nominative). An adjective agrees
with th e noun it modifies in gender, case, an d number. Th e masculine nomi-
native singular ending is -y: dobry good, ladny pretty, muy nice, kind.
After k and g, the ending is -i: wielki great, drogi dear, expensive. It is also
-i after soft consonants (which are not common): tañí (stem tan-) cheap,
glupi (stem glup'-) stupid. Th e feminine singular ending is -a : dobra,
ladna, mila. The neuter singular ending is -e: dobre, ladne, mué; after kan d g, i t is -ie: wielkie, drogie. This is also th e plural ending for adjectives
modify ing non-masculine personal nouns. The masculine personal plural
adject ive ending is -y/-i and the preceding consonant is softened: dobry — >
dobrzy, l adny — > ladni, mily — > mili, wielki — > wielcy, drogi -> drodzy;
for more examples, see below.
Mase.
Masc.pers.
Fem.
Neut.
Here is the
Nom./Voc.Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
I n s t r .
Loe.
Singulardobry hotel
good hote ldobry chlopiec
g o o d b o ydobra dziewczyna
g o o d girldobre dziecko
good child
Pluraldobre hotele
g o o d hote lsdobrzy m^zczyzni
g o o d m e ndobre kobiety
g o o d womendobre krzesla
good chairs
complete declension of plain-stem adjective dobry good:
