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GRAMMAR

NOUNS

There is no article, either definite or indcfinitc in the Polish language; book riiąy mean equally well 'the book', 'a book' or simply 'book'. This peculiarity of the Polish language does not present any difficulty to the student, as it is always elear from the context whether 'book', 'a book* or ‘the book' is meant.

Genders

There are three genders in Polish: Masculine, Feminine and Neuter. The gender of noun is indicated by the termination of its Nominative Singular case (see Cases below):

masculine are - most nouns ending in a consonant in the Nom.Sing. feminine are - nouns ending in -a, -i neuter are - nouns ending in -o, -e, -ę.

It is necessary to know the gender of a noun to be able to select the correct form of an adjective or pronoun which is to be used in conjunction with it.

Cases

There are seven 'cases' in Polish:

Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Instrumental, Locative and Vocative.

The Nominative answers the question: who? what?

(English subject)

The Genitive answers the question: whose? of whom? of what? (English 'possessive')

The Dative answers the question: to whom? to what?

(English 'indirect object')

The Accusative answers the ąuestion: whom? what?

(English 'direct object')

The Instrumental answers question: by or with whom? by or with what?

The Locative answers the question: about whom? or about

what? and is always preceded by a preposition such as w (in), na (on), o (about), przy (next to), po (after), i.e., in a sentence answers aquestion: where?

_The Vocative is ihe case-form used when addressing a person or ¹    thing.

Ptamoles: Whatisthat? That is a/the table.

Co to jest?    To jest stół.

EXERCISE 1. Translate into Polish.

Who is that? That is a/the picture. That is a/the table, and that is a/the desk. Where is a/the student?

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