The morphology of the Polish language is characterised by a fairly regular system of inflection (conjugation and declension) as well as word formation. Certain regular or common alternations apply across the Polish morphological system, affecting word formation and inflection of various parts of speech. These are described below, mostly with reference to the orthographic rather than the phonological system for clarity.
Morphophonologic alternations Consonants in clusters and at the end of words are affected by the voicing rules; these are generally not reflected in the spelling. For example, the d in sąd ("court") is pronounced , while in inflected forms such as the plural sądy it is pronounced . The vowels i and y have restricted distribution: i does not occur (except in some words of foreign origin) after c, cz, d, dz, dż, ł, r, sz, t, ż/rz, while y does not occur after k, g, l and palatal consonants. This means that in certain inflectional forms i appears in place of the expected y or vice versa (for example, the genitive of mąka "flour" is mąki, not *mąky). The declension endings starting with the vowel e or i (except for the instrumental singular -em) have the effect of palatalizing the preceding consonant. Due to historical developments, the actual effect is dependent on the consonant. don't change i changes to y after adjectival stem that ends in sz ż + masculine personal plural -i > si zi (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (e.g. ) > (spelled rz; e.g. ) > a noun ending in k + -em > kiem a noun ending in k + plural i > ki or cy > a noun ending in g + -em > a noun ending in g + plural i > gi or dzy > a noun ending in ch + plural i > si or chy Some words are subject to certain vowel alternations, caused by historical sound changes in Polish. The alternations are as follows (they do not apply to all words containing these vowels): Alternations that depend on whether the syllable is closed or open: ó–o (e.g. rób – robić) ą–ę (e.g. dąb – dęby) (occasionally )-∅ (e.g. , , ) Alternations that take effect when the following consonant is modified by a palatalizing ending a–e (e.g. wiara – wierze) o (or ó)–e (e.g. )
Nouns
Declensions are generally divided into hard and soft declensions. Soft declensions are used when the stem of the noun ends in a soft (postalveolar or palatal-like) consonant in all forms, while hard declensions are used by nouns with stems ending in a hard consonant in some (but not necessarily all) forms.
Some nouns follow the adjectival declension (see below), particularly if they are masculine nouns ending in -y/i. This applies even to some words with no apparent adjectival connection, such as Jerzy ("George"). Certain neuter nouns, mostly place names such as Zakopane and voivodeship names such as Wielkopolskie when used alone as nouns, follow the adjectival declension but take -em rather than -ym in the instrumental and locative.
The following generalisations can be made for the inflection of all nouns: The nominative and vocative plural are always identical. For neuter nouns, the nominative, accusative and vocative are always identical in both singular and plural. The accusative of masculine nouns is identical to either the nominative or the genitive. The locative, dative and instrumental plural almost always have the same endings (-ach, -om, -ami) no matter how the noun is declined.
Masculine nouns Masculine nouns typically end in a consonant and those inflect according to the masculine declension. Masculine nouns ending in -a (usually personal) follow the feminine declension in the singular, and the masculine declension in the plural. The same applies to male personal names in -o (as Kościuszko; also tato "dad"), although familiar first name forms like Franio follow the masculine declension throughout.
The following table shows the endings shared by all masculine nouns: singularpluralnominative – *accusativeinanimateanimate -apersonal*genitiveanimateinanimate -a / -ulocative* -achdative* -ominstrumental -em -ami1vocativesame as the locative2same as the nominative 1 Some nouns ending in a palatal consonant (for example gość, koń, liść) may take the ending -mi instead of -ami; also pieniądz – pieniędzmi.
2 Except for personal nouns ending in -ec, mainly chłopiec – chłopcze ("boy"), młodzieniec – młodzieńcze ("a young person"), ojciec – ojcze ("father"), starzec – starcze ("an old person").
The rest of the cases are different for 5 different declension groups:
declension I – all nouns ending in ć, dź, ń, ś, ź, l, j and nouns ending in p, b, m, w that gain palatalization in the oblique cases (for example karp – karpia, paw – pawia) dative singular ending is -owi locative singular ending is -u nominative plural is -e for non-personal nouns, and -e or -owie for personal nouns genitive plural is -i or -ów declension II – all nouns ending in c, cz, dz, dż, rz, sz, ż dative singular ending is -owi or -u locative singular ending is -u nominative plural is -e for non-personal nouns, and -e, -y or -owie for personal nouns genitive plural is -y or -ów declension III – all nouns ending in k, g, ch dative singular ending is -owi locative singular ending is -u nominative plural is -ki, -gi, -chy, respectively, for non-personal nouns, and -owie or -cy, -dzy, -si, respectively, for personal nouns genitive plural is -ów declension IV – all nouns ending in d, f, ł, n, r, s, t, z and nouns ending in p, b, m, w that do not gain palatalization in the oblique cases dative singular ending is -owi or -u locative singular ending is -e nominative plural is -y for non-personal nouns, and -i or -owie for personal nouns (the sequence r + i turns into rzy) genitive plural is -ów declension V – personal nouns ending in -anin dative singular ending is -owi locative singular ending is -e nominative plural is -anie genitive plural is -an or -anów
The following table compares all five declension groups: IIIIIIIVVdative singular -owi -owi / -u -owi -owi / -u -owilocative singular -u -enominative pluralpersonal -e / -owie -e / -y / -owie -cy, -dzy, -si / -owie -i (-y) / -owie -anienon-personal -e -ki, -gi, -chy -yN/Agenitive plural -i / -ów -y / -ów -ów -an / -anów Note also:
Many personal nouns, especially those ending in -og (equivalent to the English -ogist), can take both forms of the nominative plural, with one form more frequent than the other for no apparent reason. Personal nouns can become non-personal in the plural to form "depreciative forms", which convey negative attitude; for example policjanty instead of policjanci ("policemen") or ministry instead of ministrowie ("ministers"). Sometimes the ending may be the same, but the change of gender is conveyed through adjectives and pronouns agreeing with the noun, for example te wstrętne burżuje instead of ci wstrętni burżuje ("those disgusting bourgeois").
Irregularities in masculine nouns:
The vocative singular of Bóg ("God") is Boże. In the plural, the stem of brat ("brother") is braci- (nominative bracia, genitive braci, instrumental braćmi). The stem of ("baptism") for oblique cases is (genitive ), inflected according to the fourth declension (except for the accusative singular, which is equivalent to the nominative). Człowiek ("person, human") has a suppletive plural ludzie, inflected according to the first declension (the genitive is ludzi, the instrumental is ludźmi). The declension of dech (archaic for "breath", used mainly in set phrases) is tchu, tchu/tchowi, dech, tchem, tchu, tchu. The noun deszcz ("rain") has an archaic genitive dżdżu, used in the phrase łaknąć/pragnąć jak kania dżdżu ("to desire dearly", lit. "to desire like a kite" or "to desire like a parasol mushroom" – both names, of the bird and of the mushroom, are homonymous in Polish and there's no consensus as to which the proverb refers). The vocative singular of ksiądz ("priest") is księże. Its plural declension is księża, księży, księżom, księży, księżmi, księża. The declension of the noun książę ("prince") is książę, księcia, księciu, księcia, księciem, księciu, książę in the singular, and książęta, książąt, książętom, książeta, książętami, książętom, książętami, książęta in the plural. The genitive plural of przyjaciel ("friend") is przyjaciół, the dative plural is przyjaciołom, the instrumental plural is przyjaciółmi, and the locative plural is przyjaciołach. The nouns pan ("Mr"), syn ("son") and dom ("house") have -u in the locative and vocative singular despite belonging to the fourth declension group; pan has vocative panie. Rok ("year") has a suppletive neuter plural lata. The declension of the nouns sędzia ("judge") and hrabia ("count") is sędzia/hrabia, sędziego/hrabiego, sędziemu/hrabiemu, sędziego/hrabiego, sędzią/hrabią, sędzi/hrabi, sędzio/hrabio in the singular, and sędziowie/hrabiowie, sędziów/hrabi, sędziom/hrabiom, sędziów/hrabiów, sędziami/hrabiami, sędziach/hrabiach, sędziowie/hrabiowie. A few masculines have plurals in -a, usually as an alternative to the regular plural (e.g. the nominative plural of cud can be cudy or cuda).
Feminine nouns Feminine nouns usually end in -a, although a few end in -i. These are the "a-stem" nouns. A number of feminine nouns ends in a soft or hardened consonant; these are "i-stem" nouns.
The following table shows the feminine a-stem declension:
Hard declension Soft declension Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative mapa mapy granica granice Accusative mapę granicę Genitive mapy map granicy granic Locative mapie mapach granicach Dative mapom granicom Instrumental mapą mapami granicą granicami Vocative mapo mapy granico granice
Feminine nouns in -i (like gospodyni "housewife") have this -i only in the nominative and vocative singular. In all other cases they decline like soft a-stem nouns. Soft feminine nouns that are familiar forms of personal names (like Ania, from Anna) have a vocative in -u (Aniu) or with no ending.
The following table shows the feminine i-stem declension:
Singular Plural Nominativenoc noce Accusative Genitivenocy nocy Locative nocach Dative nocom Instrumental nocą nocami Vocative nocy noce
Some feminine i-stem nouns, especially those in -ość (a suffix used to form nouns from adjectives) have N/A/V/G plural in -y/i rather than -e. Examples include rzecz "thing," and mysz "mouse," both ending in -y. Nouns with the suffix -ość, as well as a few other nouns (such as gość "guest" and dłoń "palm") form the instrumental plural by adding just -mi rather than -ami.
Neuter nouns Neuter nouns end in -o or -e, these are the hard and soft neuter "o-stems". A few end in -ę, the so-called "n-stem" and "t-stem" nouns.
The following table shows the neuter o-stem declension:
Hard declension Soft declension Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative miasto miasta pole pola Accusative miasto miasta pole pola Genitive miasta miast pola pól Locative mieście miastach polu polach Dative miastu miastom polu polom Instrumental miastem miastami polem polami Vocative miasto miasta pole pola
Some neuter nouns take -y/i in the genitive plural, particularly those ending in -e that have a prefix (e.g. narzędzie "tool", G pl. narzędzi). Some neuter nouns that were borrowed from Latin end in -um. These are indeclinable in the singular (always -um) but follow the hard or soft neuter declension in the plural.
The neuter n-stem and neuter t-stem nouns decline as soft neuter o-stems in the singular but as hard neuter o-stems in the plural. In addition, they have shortened nominative/accusative/vocative singular forms ending in -ę.