LIVE FORUMS / ARCHIVES / 2009
PolishForums - ARCHIVE Witamy in PolishForums Archive :
Archives / 2009 / Grammar, Usage / posts: 2

SURNAMES IN -KO DECLINED LIKE FEM. NOUNS?


Polonius3Threads: 963
Posts: 4,551
Joined: Apr 11, 08
  Sep 13, 09, 13:02 /  #
Polish grammar requries surnames ending in -ko such as Kościuszko to be decliend like feminine nouns:
GEN Kościsuzki
DAT Kościuszce,
ACC Kościuszkę, etc.
And yet former finance minister Kołodko remained undeclined: misję powierzono ministrowi Kołodko.
Anyone knwo why? Has this chnaged, and if so -- when? If one writes to someone about an Andrzej Siemiaszko or Leon Bojko should one write: Już poinformowałem pana Siemiaszkę or Siemiaszko, życzyłem profesorowi Bojce or Bojko (if one does not know his particular preference)? Can one correctly write: Naród zaufał Tadeuszowi Kościuszko?
ZiemowitThreads: 10
Posts: 1,056
Joined: May 8, 09
Edited by: Ziemowit   Sep 13, 09, 18:47 /  #
The rule and the norm in the Polish language is generally to decline whatever can be declined. Thus, the surname Kołodko should be declined, and indeed, it often is: I often heard "ministrowi Kołodce". Yet, some people, including politicians, insist - against the language norm - that their name shoud remain undeclinable. That was, for example, the case of the former PiS minister Zbigniew Ziobro, a case widely known in the Polish media world. He wanted TV and press journalist to leave his surname undeclined, yet the linguist who was telling the story to us at a language training at work, said the former minister was not right demanding this. Some surnames, however, may be left undeclined by tradition, but I am not able to give you any examples right now.

As for the name Kościuszko, I think the fixed historic tradition is to decline the surname, so you should always hear: Naród zaufał Tadeuszowi Kościuszce.

Go UPtop of page


Similar discussions:

Similar to: SURNAMES IN -KO DECLINED LIKE FEM. NOUNS?
verbal nouns in -nie
Polish Nouns ending in 'um'
Plural nouns in the accusative?
Declension of feminine nouns ending in -ia
THE -A or -U ENDING IN MASC. NOUNS DEFINED
-u ending in dative of masc. sing. nouns
Polish masuline singular/plural inanimate nouns and case
My Polish Surnames
Using państwo and surnames.
Surnames: Trzaskowski/Szamlewska

"Prześle" - which verb is that?  CONJUGATION OF CHLAĆ - CHLAM, CHLEJĘ or BOTH?

Random: Polish Love Poems
Archives / 2009 / Grammar, Usage /posts: 2


This forum is archived (read-only).
Category:
© 2005-2010 PolishForums.com | PolishForums LIVE | Archives | Random | Statistics