Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns refer to a person or thing that has been previously mentioned. For example, "Kasia" went to the game. I met her there." (The pronoun "her" refers to "Kasia." "Kasia" is the antecedent of "her.") "I hit the ball. It went far." (The pronoun "it" refers to "ball". "Ball" is the antecedent of "it".) Pronouns agree in gender and number with their antecedents. Pronouns are declined either according to the adjective declension or have an irregular declension which is a combination of adjective and noun declension

The following pronouns decline according to the adjective declension:

1. interrogative/ relative pronouns, jaki, jaka, jakie (what kind); który, która, które (which).
   
2. determinative pronoun: taki, owaki (this type)
   
3. indefinite pronoun: którys, który badz (somebody)
   

The following pronouns are declined by the mixed adjective/noun declension:

1. possessive pronouns, mój, twój, (my, yours)
   
2. interrogative/relative pronouns: kto, co (who, what)
   
3. demonstrative pronoun: ten, ta, to
   
4. indefinite pronoun: nikt, nic, co (nobody, nothing, what)
   
5. reflexive pronoun: siebie (themselve)
   
6. personal pronoun: on (he)
   

Personal pronouns may be singular or plural, and 1st, 2nd or 3rd person. They are commonly used in six cases. The vocative of personal pronouns is very seldom used, and, in any case, it does not ever have a separate form.

Presented below are the personal pronouns in their six cases. As it has been noted above personal pronouns decline by an irregular declension. Note that the oblique forms of the personal pronouns "on", "ona", "ono" and "oni" have an "n" added when they are followed by a preposition. Note also that unlike English the equivalent of I ("ja"), is not capitalized unless it begins a sentence. For some of the pronouns there exist two forms: a short form and a long form ("mi" (to/for me) is short and "mnie" (to/for me) is long, "ci" (to/for you) is short and "tobie" (to/for you) is long, etc.) The long form is used for emphasis and after prepositions. The short form is enclitic form, i.e. it does not have stress - it is usually pronounced as part of the preceding word. Short forms can never occur at the beginning of the sentence.

Declension of Singular Personal Pronouns:

Declension of Plural Personal Pronouns:

In the following sentence, the pronoun "on" (he) is the subject of the sentence, and is in the nominative case, while the pronoun "ja" (her), as the direct object, is in the accusative:

On kocha ja. (He loves her.)

The Reflexive Pronoun The reflexive pronoun always refers back to the subject of the verb. Since it cannot be a subject itself, there is no nominative form. It means: myself, yourself, himself/herself/itself, themselves, depending on its antecedent. It has the same declension for all genders and numbers. It declines as follows:

Ona kupiła sobie nowe buty. (She bought [for] herself new shoes.)

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns show to whom something belongs. They answer the question - "whose?". In English, they are: "my, our, your, his/her/its, their." In Polish, the possessive pronouns agree with the noun they modify in gender (except the 3rd person plural), number, and case.

The nominative, singular forms of these possessive pronouns are:

Remember the masculine noun distinction between persons, animals and things. If a singular noun is masculine and denoting a person or an animal and is in the accusative which takes the genitive ending, all the modifying pronouns should be as well. If a singular noun is masculine and denotes a thing, and is in the accusative case which takes the nominative ending, all the modifying pronouns should be as well.

In the plural, if the noun is masculine or neuter and denotes an animal or a thing and is in the accusative case which takes the nominative ending, the modifying pronouns will be in the nominative case as well.

In the plural, if the noun is masculine and denotes a person and is in the accusative case which takes the genitive ending, the modifying pronouns will be in the genitive case as well.

The following sets of possessive pronouns have similar declensions. Please note that some of them have alternate short forms, which are used mainly in poetry and high rhetoric. However, both forms are acceptable in contemporary conversational Polish.

Relative pronouns mój, moje, moja and twój, twoje, twoja decline according to an irregular declension with endings similar to adjective declension but with consonant alterations and short forms.

When modifying a singular noun:

When modifying a plural noun:

The pronouns "nasz", "nasze", "nasza" and "wasz", "wasze", "wasza" decline according to the same pattern.

When modifying a singular noun:

When modifying a plural noun:

Note that the possessive pronouns for the 3rd person singular and plural "jego, jej, ich" (his, her, its, and their) do not agree with the noun they modify and do not decline. Instead, they reflect the gender and number of their antecedent (as in English).

Note: When the subject and the possessor are the same, the possessive/reflexive pronoun "swój", "swoja", "swoje" is used:

On zna jego brata. (He knows his [someone else's] brother.)

On zna swojego brata. (He knows his [own] brother.)

Interrogative/Relative Pronouns

These pronouns can either ask a question or act as the subject of a clause in a sentence. The interrogative/relative pronouns include:

Kto napisał"Ogniem i mieczem"?

(Who wrote "With Fire and Sword"?)

Tęksiażkęnapisałten sam autor, który napisał"Potop".

(This book was written by the same author who wrote "The Flood.")

The full declension of "who" and "what":

Interrogative pronouns "jaki, jaka, jakie, który, która, które" (what kind, which) both agree in number, gender and case with the noun they refer to. Both decline like adjectives. Interrogative pronoun "czyj, czyja, czyje (whose) declines by the mixed declension, adjective/noun declension.

Czyja to jest walizka?

(Whose suitcase is this?)

Jaka jutro będzie pogoda?

(What kind of weather will there be tomorrow?)

To jest ta ulica, na której znajduje się Muzeum Narodowe.

(This is the street on which the National Museum is located.)

It has already been mentioned that the interrogative/relative pronouns jaki (which) and który (who) decline by the adjective declension. The interrogative/relative pronouns kto, and co decline by the mixed adjective/noun declension. Moreover, the consonant "c" in co changes into "cz" in all cases except in nominative and accusative. Please note also that the pronouns kto and co as well as their indefinite correlates nikt and nic do not have feminine gender and plural number.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Two common demonstrative pronouns in English are "this" and "that." In English and in Polish these words can be used to modify a noun or can stand alone. "This is good juice." "This juice is good." In Polish, demonstrative pronouns agree with the noun they modify in gender, number and case when they are used as adjectives. When the equivalent of "this" is used as the subject, it is always used in the neuter, nominative, singular form and gives the meaning: "This/that is."

The main demonstrative pronoun, "this, that," shown here in the nominative form, is:

Note: The demonstrative pronouns decline like adjectives.

Negative Pronouns

These pronouns act as they do in English with one important exception. Negative pronouns, most of which begin with the prefix "ni-" require the use of the negative particle "nie" in the sentence. Double or triple negatives are poor grammar in English, but required grammar in Polish.

Nikt nigdy nie może zapomnieć.

(No one can ever forget.).

Even sixtuple negation, perhaps slightly exaggerated, but grammatically correct, is possible in Polish:

Nikt nigdy nigdzie nikomu niczego nie obiecywal.

(No one has ever anywhere promised anything to anyone.)

Some negative pronouns include:

The first two of these pronouns decline like the relative pronouns kto / co. The pronoun żadendeclines like the demonstrative pronoun ten, and niczyj declines like czyj.

Indefinite Pronouns

These pronouns give the meaning of "some" or "any." Some indefinite pronouns are:

Indefinite pronouns can be formed from interrogative/relative pronouns by adding particles -s, as in ktos, cos, or -kolwiek, as in ktokolwiek, cokolwiek, gdziekolwiek. Also generalized pronouns such as: wszyscy (all), kazdy (everyone), and pronouns which refer to identical objects as: taki sam (such as) are classified as indefinite pronouns. Most of the indefinite pronouns have irregular declension.

Some examples of indefinite pronouns: