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This lesson introduces Polish grammatical cases, explaining questions like kto? co? kogo? komu? with examples such as koleżanka (female friend) in the nominative and accusative cases, helping beginners grasp essential noun forms and their roles in sentences.
  1. In the Polish language, we have seven cases.
  2. Each case answers different questions.
Przypadek (Case)Na jakie pytania odpowiada? (What questions does it answer?)Przykład (Example)
Mianownik (Nominative)Kto? Co? (Who? What?)Kto to jest? To jest koleżanka. (Who is this? This is a friend.)
Dopełniacz (Genitive)Kogo? Czego? (Who? What?)Kogo nie ma? Nie ma koleżanki. (Who is missing? There is no friend.)
Celownik (Dative)Komu? Czemu? (To whom? For what?)Komu się przyglądam? Przyglądam się koleżance. (Who am I looking at? I am looking at my friend.)
Biernik (Accusative)Kogo? Co? (Who? What?)Kogo widzę? Widzę koleżankę. (Who do I see? I see a female friend.)
Narzędnik (Instrumental)Z kim? Z czym? (With whom? With what?)Z kim idę? Idę z koleżanką. (Who am I going with? I am going with a friend.)
Miejscownik (Locative)O kim? O czym? (About whom? About what?)O kim myślę? Myślę o koleżance. (Who am I thinking about? I am thinking about a friend.)
Wołacz (Vocative)O! (O!)O, koleżanko! (Oh, friend!)

Exceptions!

  1. Some verbs and prepositions require a specific case, e.g. słuchać + genitive, rozmawiać o + locative.
  2. The vocative is mainly used in forms of direct address, e.g. Mamo!, Kasiu!.

Exercise 1: Wprowadzenie do przypadków: kto? co? kogo? komu?

Instruction: Fill in the correct word.

Show translation Show answers

książka, siostrę, ludzi, chłopak, mamą, rodzinie, Ania, kota

1. Wołacz:
O! Cześć ...!
(O! Cześć Ania!)
2. Dopełniacz:
Nie ma ....
(Nie ma kota.)
3. Mianownik:
To jest ....
(To jest chłopak.)
4. Narzędnik:
Idę z ....
(Idę z mamą.)
5. Biernik:
Widzę ....
(Widzę ludzi.)
6. Miejscownik:
Myślę o ....
(Myślę o rodzinie.)
7. Biernik:
Mam ....
(Mam siostrę.)
8. Mianownik:
To jest ....
(To jest książka.)

Exercise 2: Dialogue completion

Instruction: Complete the dialogue with the correct solution

1. Anna: Czy twoje ___ już chodzi do przedszkola?

(Anna: Does your ___ already go to kindergarten?)

2. Marek: Tak, moje ___ ma cztery lata i bardzo lubi przedszkole.

(Marek: Yes, my ___ is four years old and really likes kindergarten.)

3. Anna: A twoje ___ są już w szkole?

(Anna: And are your ___ already in school?)

4. Marek: Tak, moje ___ uczą się w podstawówce i są bardzo pilne.

(Marek: Yes, my ___ attend elementary school and are very diligent.)

5. Anna: To miło, że twoje ___ i ___ dobrze się rozwijają.

(Anna: It's nice that your ___ and ___ are developing well.)

6. Marek: Dokładnie, każdy rodzic cieszy się z sukcesów swoich ___.

(Marek: Exactly, every parent is happy about the successes of their ___.)

Introduction to Polish Cases: kto? co? kogo? komu?

This lesson introduces you to the seven grammatical cases in Polish, which are essential for understanding how nouns, adjectives, and pronouns change their forms depending on their role in a sentence. Polish cases affect how words relate to each other, much like prepositions and word order do in English.

What Are Cases?

In Polish, "cases" (przypadki) are different forms that words take to express their grammatical function, such as the subject, direct object, or the object of a preposition. The process of changing word endings according to cases is called declension (deklinacja).

The Seven Cases and Their Questions

Each Polish case answers specific questions about a noun or pronoun. Here are the cases with examples using the word koleżanka (female friend):

  • Nominative (Mianownik) — Who? What?
    Kto to jest? To jest koleżanka.
  • Genitive (Dopełniacz) — Whom? Of what?
    Kogo nie ma? Nie ma koleżanki.
  • Dative (Celownik) — To whom? To what?
    Komu się przyglądam? Przyglądam się koleżance.
  • Accusative (Biernik) — Whom? What?
    Kogo widzę? Widzę koleżankę.
  • Instrumental (Narzędnik) — With whom? With what?
    Z kim idę? Idę z koleżanką.
  • Locative (Miejscownik) — About whom? About what?
    O kim myślę? Myślę o koleżance.
  • Vocative (Wołacz) — Oh! (used for direct address)
    O, koleżanko!

Key Points About Polish Cases

  • Cases are used not only with nouns but also affect adjectives and pronouns.
  • Certain verbs and prepositions require specific cases. For example:
    słuchać + genitive (dopełniacz) – to listen to someone or something
    rozmawiać o + locative (miejscownik) – to talk about something/someone
  • The vocative case is primarily used when directly addressing someone, often with names or terms of endearment.

Comparing English and Polish Cases

English uses word order and prepositions rather than changes in word endings to show grammatical relationships. Polish, however, relies on these case endings. For example, English says "I see the friend" regardless of the word’s position, but Polish changes "koleżanka" to "koleżankę" in accusative.

Useful phrases to remember:

  • kto? co? – who? what? (nominative)
  • kogo? czego? – whom? of what? (genitive)
  • komu? czemu? – to whom? to what? (dative)
  • kogo? co? – whom? what? (accusative)

Mastering these questions will help you identify the correct case to use when forming sentences.

Written by

This content has been designed and reviewed by the coLanguage pedagogical team: About coLanguage

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Joanna Majchrowska

Master of Spanish Philology

University of Lodz

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Poland


Last Updated:

Wednesday, 03/12/2025 19:57