Nouns

As in English, a Polish noun names a person, place, thing, or abstract idea. However, Polish nouns have different endings to reflect three different attributes - gender, number and case. Unlike English, Polish nouns are either masculine, feminine, or neuter. The number of a noun is either singular or plural. The use of a noun in a sentence is shown by the case ending. There are seven cases in Polish, as described in the topic, Introduction to Polish Grammar

Gender

Nouns are divided into three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. These genders can be either natural, when applied to people or animals, or grammatical when applied to objects. An additional gender distinction occurs for nouns in plural, namely: virile and non-virile. The virile gender as the name implies includes nouns for masculine persons (virile means "of man"). The non-virile group includes all other categories, i.e. feminine, neuter, animals, and inanimate.

Masculine nouns end in a consonant (note that-j is a consonant). However there are also common masculine nouns ending in vowels, e.g.: "tata" (dad), "poeta" (poet), "mezczyzna" (man), "ksiaze" (prince).

Feminine nouns end in the vowels -a or -i; a few end in soft, palatal, consonants.

Neuter nouns end in -o, -e; nasal -ę or in -um. Nouns ending with -um are usually loanwords.

In English the plural of a noun is usually formed by adding -s/-es. In Polish the form of the plural depends on its case, gender, and the type of the final consonant. The formation of plural nouns of each gender in the cases is shown in the table further below.

Case

A noun may appear in any of the seven cases, depending on its function in a sentence. The seventh case, the vocative, is used as a form of address and, is, therefore, mostly limited to people and pets. Note that in the plural, the vocative is always the same as the nominative. In contemporary colloquial Polish the vocative can be replaced by the nominative case on most occasions. The vocative ending for masculine first names is -either -e or -u and the vocative ending for feminine first names is -o or -u. The vocative case of Mr. is "Panie" and the vocative of Mrs. is "Pani". The last name does not change in the vocative. Therefore in addressing a person you would say the following:

Addressing men using the first name
Panie Janie
Panie Andrzeju

Addressing women using the first name
Pani Ewo
Pani Zosiu

Addressing men using the last name
Panie Zielinski

Addressing women using the last name
Pani Zielinska

Three types of declensions are generally distinguished in Polish: noun declension, adjective declension, and numeral declension. In addition there is also an irregular declension - there are some words in Polish which have their own declension, specific for just this word, e.g. pronouns "kto" (who), "co" (what), numeral "dwa" (two).

The characteristic endings of the noun declension:

Polish distinguishes 4 classes of declension, which are basically connected to the gender of the nouns: masculine, feminine, neuter and mixed declension. The mixed declension has irregular endings.

Masculine nouns denoting animals, things and persons

In the masculine singular declension pattern of nouns and in plural nouns, a distinction exists between male persons, masculine animals and things.

All masculine nouns which refer to animals take the genitive ending in the singular accusative and the nominative ending in the plural accusative.

All masculine nouns which refer to things take a nominative ending in the accusative case in both singular and plural.

All masculine nouns which refer to persons take a genitive ending in the accusative case. in both singular and plural.

Masculine nouns usually end with a consonant, either palatal or non-palatal in nominative singular. There is a little group of masculine nouns in diminutive form, which have ending -o.

Masculine declension has the following endings:

Some examples of masculine declension paradigms

Declension of masculine inanimate nouns ending in hard consonants:

Declension of masculine nouns denoting animals ending in hard consonants:

Declension of masculine denoting people nouns ending in soft consonants

Declension of masculine inanimate nouns ending in -k or -g

Declension of masculine nouns ending in -a (in singular they decline like feminine nouns)

Not only is Polish a highly inflected language, but also it has many exceptions. Some of them for the masculine declension are:

1. Changes of stem: -e changes into phonetic zero, e.g. "uczen", "ucznia" (of pupil), "Jurek", "Jurka" (George).
   
2. Alternation of vowels in the stem: a//e, e.g. "maz", "meza" (husband)
   
3. Noun: "ojciec", has in genitive form "ojca", in instrumentalis "ojcem" (father)
   
4. Some masculine nouns, especially inanimate monosyllabic and polysyllabic nouns of foreign origin take ending -u in the genitive singular, e.g. "sklepu" (store), "autobusu" (bus), "universytetu" (university).

Declension of Feminine Nouns

Feminine declension of nouns ending in vowels:

Feminine declension of nouns ending in consonants:

Feminine singular noun:

Note that for all feminine nouns, the singular dative and prepositional (also called locative) endings are the same and that all feminine nouns have either -a or -i ending in the nominative singular, or a soft consonant.

Some examples of the feminine declension

Declension of feminine nouns with stem ending in hard consonant.

Feminine nouns ending in soft consonants:

Feminine nouns with stem ending in -k or -g:

Feminine nouns ending in -ni:

Declension of Neuter Nouns

Neuter nouns end in -o, -e, -ę, or -um in the nominative case. These three vowels contribute to three general types of declension of neuter nouns.

Neuter nouns ending in "hard", non-palatal consonants

Indeclinable Nouns

In Polish, as in English, many words have been borrowed from other languages. Often, these words do not change their case endings to reflect their use in a sentence. However, adjectives modifying them reflect the correct case, number and gender. These nouns can be masculine, feminine or, almost always, neuter.

Polish Names

As in English, Polish names consist of three parts: the first, the middle and the last name. The middle name, in practice, is not often used, other than on one's birth certificate. The polite form of address among close friends is the use of the first name. The polite form of address among acquaintances is the use of the address "Pan" or "Pani" with the first name. The polite form of address with those who are neither good friends nor close acquaintances is the use of the address "Pan" or "Pani" with the last name.

Diminutive Form

Diminutive forms of nouns are commonly used in Polish to express not only smallness, but also different emotional nuances. Diminutive forms of first names often express endearment:

For example, for the name "Aleksandra" the common nickname is "Ola". From "Ola" one makes diminutives ("Olenka" or "Olusia") in order to express a degree of closeness or emotion.

A large scarf is a "chusta", while a handkerchief is a "chusteczka". A large bench as in a courtroom is a "ława", while a park bench is a "ławka", and a small bench for a child is called "laweczka". A "stół" is a table, but a night table is a "stolik".

Most common diminutive endings for feminine nouns are -ka and -czka, for neuter nouns -ko, and for masculine nouns are -ik or -ek.

Irregular nouns

There are nouns in Polish with irregular grammatical forms. For instance some nouns have two different words, or precisely speaking morphemes, for singular and plural: "rok" , "lata" (year, years); "czlowiek", "ludzie" (a person, people). Or nouns, which only have plural form (so called Pluralia Tantum): "drzwi" (door), "nozyczki" (scissors).