NOUNS:
There are no definite or indefinite articles in Polish. "Dom" means "house, a house, the house".
There are three genders in Polish:
Masculine nounds usually end in a counsonant
feminine nounds usually end in -a
neutral most often in -o or -e.
Some nouns take a plural form for no obvious reason (like scissors or trousers in English)
Skrzypce violin
Dzieje history
Drzwi door
Urodziny birthday
This also is true of many names of countries:
Niemcy Germany
W Nieczech In Germany
Włochy Italy
Chiny China
Indie India
Węgry Hungary
Na Węgrzech In Hungary
And some cities are also in the plural for some reason:
in Poland -
Kielce
Katowice ...
And elsewhere -
W Helsinkach in Helsinki
W Atenach in Athens
VERBAL NOUNS:
Polish tends to use a noun form of a verb in many instances where a verb would be used in English. They end in:
-anie (for verbs ending in -ać),
-enie (for verbs ending in -eć or -ić or -yć in multisyllabic verbs),
-cie for mono-syllabic verbs ending in -uc, -ić,-yć, and verbs ending in - ać or -nąć.
Czytać-czytanie read-reading
Zobaczyć-zobaczenie see-seeing
Pić- picie drink-drinking
Do you have something to say? Czy masz coś do powiedzenia?
PRONOUNS:
I- ja
You- ty
He- On
She- ona
We- My
You- Wy
They- oni, one
DIMINUITIVES:
masculine diminuitives end in -ek, szek, -eczek, -ik, -yk, czyk
Kot-kotek cat-kitten
Brat-braciszek brother, little brother
Worek-woreczek sack (little _)
Kon-konik horse-pony
Chłopiec-chłopczyk boy-little boy
Kosz-koszyk basket-(litte _)
Feminine endings -ka, -ska, -eczka, -uchna, -usia
Głowa-głowka head
Mucha-muszka fly
Córka-córeczka daughter
Córka-córuchna
Mama-masusia Mom-mommie
Neutral endings -ko, -sko, (e)czko, -atko
drzewo-drzewko tree
Serce-serduszko heart
Oko-oczko eye
Dziecię-dzieczątko child
The opposite of a diminuitive (rarely used) often confers a pejorative meaning
End in -isko, -ysko, czysko, ina, yan, -ak
Pies-psisko dog-big dog
Biedak-biedaczysko poor man
Pies-psiak dog-cur
CASES:
There are seven cases in Polish.
NOMINATIVE - the straightforward dictionary entry of a word - used as a subject in a sentence.
GENETIVE - the second most popular case, usually meaning 'of, belonging to', but also must be used after certain prepositions and verbs
DATIVE - 'to' (and after certain prepositions and verbs)
ACCUSATIVE - The direct object of a sentence.
INSTRUMENTAL - 'with, by means of'
LOCATIVE - after certain prepositions - mostly 'in, at, about'
VOCATIVE - used when literally talking to the person or thing in question (this is obviously limited almost entirely to people's names, as most of us do not often find ourselves talking to doors, chairs and cardboard boxes)
lots of this will be familiar to those of you who speak Latin, Russian, German, but there are some strange quirks in the Połish cases.
I.
One of the most curious aspects of Połish grammar is the use of the instrumentał case for the second part of a sentence invołving the verb BE or BECOME, instead of the simpłe nominative.
I am an American - is NOT 'Jestem Amerikanin, but 'Jestem Amerikaninem.'
This has an unusual twist - the sentence 'Jestem samochodem' normally means 'I came by car' (literally "I am with a car"), but grammatically also means 'I AM a car:'
II.
The accusative of words relating to people or animals is identical to the genitive: The accusative of inanimate objects is the normal accusative:
III:
Direct objects after negative verbs don't take the accusative, but the genitive form.
Widzę dom. I see the house.
Nie widzę domu. I don't see the house.
! The word 'nic' is an exception and remains unchanged - Nic nie widzę.
CONJUNCTIONS:
A albo ale (but)
ani...ani (neither...nor)
bądź...bądź (both..and)
Czy (whether, if)
i (and)
jednak (however)
lecz (but)
lub (or)
Skoro, także (also)
też (also)
więc (therefore)
Nie tyle...ile (not as many as)
Nie tylko...lecz także (not only...but also)
podczas gdy (whereas)
To jest (i.e.)
Bo bowiem dyż ponieważ (given that)
Dlatego, że (because)
Dzięki temu (thanks to)
Jak (as)
jak gdyby (as if)
tak jak (just like)
mimo że (even though)
nawet jeśli (even if)
pod warunkiem, że (provided that)
dopóki (until)
jak tylko (as soon as)
zanim (before)
HAVE FUN LEARNING!!!
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