A2.15 - The government and elections

Plural of non-masculine-personal adjectives: wolny → wolne

Liczba mnoga przymiotników niemęskoosobowych: wolny → wolne

Przymiotniki niemęskoosobowe w liczbie mnogiej opisują rzeczowniki, które nie są grupą z mężczyznami, czyli rzeczy, zwierzęta, kobiety lub mieszane grupy bez mężczyzn.

(Non-masculine-personal adjectives in the plural describe nouns that are not a group with men, i.e. things, animals, women, or mixed groups without men.)

When do you use the plural ending -e?

In Polish, plural adjectives have two main patterns:

  • masculine-personal (a group of men / mixed group with at least one man): usually ends in -i / -y (e.g., nowi).
  • non-masculine-personal (niemęskoosobowy): ends in -e.

This popup is about the second one: niemęskoosobowy plural = adjective ends in -e.

The key rule (and it’s very reliable)

In the non-masculine-personal plural, adjectives always take the ending -e.

  • No exceptions in this pattern.
  • This is why you get: nowe, ważne, wolne, trudne, demokratyczne.

How to recognize “niemęskoosobowy” quickly

Use -e when the plural noun refers to:

  • women: nowe koleżanki
  • children: ważne dziecięce sprawy (everyday: ważne sprawy)
  • animals: trudne konie (rare, but grammatically correct)
  • things / abstract nouns: nowe plakaty, ważne decyzje, wolne dni
  • a group of men is NOT the topic (e.g., all women or all objects)

Practical shortcut: if it’s “things / documents / decisions / days / questions” → very often -e.

Form it step by step (what you actually change)

  1. Start from the dictionary/base adjective (often masculine singular): nowy, trudny, wolny, ważny.
  2. For niemęskoosobowy plural, replace the ending with -e.
Base form Change Non-masculine-personal plural
nowy -y → -e nowe
trudny -y → -e trudne
wolny -y → -e wolne
ważny -y → -e ważne
demokratyczny -ny → -ne demokratyczne

Typical professional examples (correct vs wrong)

  • new posters: nowe plakaty (nowi plakaty)
  • important decisions: ważne decyzje (ważni decyzje)
  • difficult questions: trudne pytania (trudni pytania)
  • free days: wolne dni (wolni dni)

Why these are “-e”: plakaty, decyzje, pytania, dni are not “a group of men”.

Self-check: choose -e or not?

Ask yourself one quick question:

  • Are we talking about a group of men (or mixed group with at least one man)?
    • Yes → this is masculine-personal (not today’s topic).
    • No → use niemęskoosobowy → adjective ends in -e.

If you see a plural noun for objects/ideas (contracts, decisions, questions, posters, days), your default choice is: -e.

What to pay attention to

  • -e is about the type of plural group, not about “formal vs informal”.
  • Don’t copy the masculine form you hear in phrases about men.
    • Example contrast: nowi pracownicy (male/mixed employees) vs nowe firmy (companies).
  • In many everyday contexts (work, news, politics), you describe things and decisions → you will use -e very often.
  1. Non-masculine-personal adjectives always take the ending -e; there are no exceptions.
Przymiotnik (Adjective)Końcówka (Ending)Forma (l. mn. niemęskoos.) (Form (non-masculine-personal plural))
demokratyczny (democratic)-edemokratyczne (democratic)
wolny (free)-ewolne (free)
ważny (important)-eważne (important)
nowy (new)-enowe (new)
trudny (difficult)-etrudne (difficult)

Exercise 1: Multiple choice

Instruction: Choose the correct answer

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1. Widziałem ____ plakaty wyborcze na ulicy.

I saw ____ election posters on the street.

2. W tych wyborach ____ decyzje podejmuje parlament.

In these elections, ____ decisions are made by parliament.

3. W telewizji pokazali ____ pytania dziennikarzy do ministrów.

On TV they showed ____ questions from journalists to the ministers.

4. W weekend mamy ____ dni, więc pójdziemy głosować.

We have ____ days on the weekend, so we'll go vote.

Exercise 2: Rewrite the phrases

Instruction: Transform the sentences: write the second sentence in the non-masculine-person plural, changing the adjective to the form with the ending -e (e.g. nowy → nowe).

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  1. To jest nowa umowa. To są … umowy.
    ⇒ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    To jest nowa umowa. To są nowe umowy.
    (This is a new contract. These are new contracts.)
  2. To jest trudna praca. To są … prace.
    ⇒ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    To jest trudna praca. To są trudne prace.
    (This is hard work. These are hard jobs.)
  3. To jest ważna informacja. To są … informacje.
    ⇒ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    To jest ważna informacja. To są ważne informacje.
    (This is important information. These are important pieces of information.)
  4. To jest wolna sobota. To są … soboty.
    ⇒ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    To jest wolna sobota. To są wolne soboty.
    (This is a free Saturday. These are free Saturdays.)

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Joanna Majchrowska

Master of Spanish Philology

University of Lodz

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Poland


Last Updated:

Thursday, 18/06/2026 03:30