The Declination of Polish Nouns and Adjectives
Classification of Polish Consonants
| soft consonants | g(i) | k(i) | ch(i) | r(i) | w(i) | f(i) | p(i) | m(i) | b(i) | dź = dz(i) | ć = c(i) | ń = n(i) | ś = s(i) | ź = z(i) | l | h(i) | j | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hardened consonants | dz | c | sz | rz | cz | dż | ż | |||||||||||||
| hard consonants | g | k | ch | r | w | f | p | m | b | d | t | n | s | z | ł | h | ||||
Declination Table
| singular | plural | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine personal | masculine non-personal + feminine | neuter | |||||||
| Nominative | nouns |
-consonant (-ca, -sta → decline as feminine) |
soft+hardened -e (-ďż˝*) hard -o (-um → do not decline!) |
-a (-yni, -ini, -ni; rarely consonants: -ość, sól, rzecz, noc, wieś) |
soft+hardened -e g, k, r -y rest -i |
or -owie |
soft+hardened -e g, k, -ość -i rest, rzecz -y |
-a | ||||
| adjectives |
soft, g, k: -i rest: -y |
soft, g, k: stem+ie rest: stem+e |
soft: stem+ia rest: stem+a |
soft, g, k: -i rest: -y (see Table above!) |
soft, g, k: -ie rest: -e |
|||||||
| Genetive | nouns | -a (-u) | -a |
soft, ch, g, k: -i rest: -y |
-´w |
masculine non-personal soft: -i rest: -ów (-y) |
feminine soft: -Ø hardened: -y hard -Ø |
-Ø | ||||
| adjectives | -ego | -ej |
soft, g, k: -ich rest: -ych |
|||||||||
| Dative | nouns | -owi (-u) | -u |
soft: -i hardened: -y ch, g, k → sz, dz, c: -e rest → soft: -e |
-om | |||||||
| adjectives | -emu | as genetive |
soft, g, k: -im rest: -ym |
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| Accusative | nouns | animates as genetive | inanimates as nominative | as nominative |
if nominative ends in a, i: -ďż˝ cons: as nominative |
as genetive |
as nominative (feminine sometimes -Ø) |
|||||
| adjectives | as genetive | as nominative | - | as genetive | as nominative | |||||||
| Instrumental | nouns | -em | - | -ami (-mi) | ||||||||
| adjectives |
soft, g, k: -im rest: -ym |
as accusative |
soft, g, k: -imi rest: -ymi |
|||||||||
| Locative | nouns |
soft+hardened, ch, g, k: -u rest -e (consonant changes as dative feminine!) |
as dative |
if nominative singular finishes in a, e, i, o or Ø -ach (Niemczech, Woszech, Wďż˝rzech) |
||||||||
| adjectives | as instrumental | as genetive | as genetive | |||||||||
| Vocative | nouns | as locative | as nominative |
if nominative ends in a -o (rarely -u) rest as dative |
as nominative | |||||||
| adjectives | as nominative | |||||||||||
Legend
| darker blue shaded boxes | Remember consonant changes (dź→dzi, ć→ci, ƒ→ni, ś→si, ź→zi) |
| white font color | Remember to add an i after g and k! |
| * | Insert before singular endings -�i- (-eni-), and before plural endings -�- (-on-), (-t for genetive plural) |
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