Polish grammar

Every grammar guide of Lingora’s Polish A1 course, with examples you can listen to.

01Verbs: Present TensePolish verbs change their form (conjugate) to indicate who is performing the action. In the present tense, the verb ending identifies the subject,…
02Possessive AdjectivesPossessive adjectives describe who owns or possesses a noun. In Polish, these words fall into two distinct categories based on how they behave…
03Nouns: GenderPolish nouns are categorized into three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. The gender of a noun is fixed and determines the form of…
04Personal PronounsPersonal pronouns are words used to replace specific nouns, such as people or objects. In Polish, these pronouns change form depending on the grammatical…
05Pronouns: DeclensionPronouns are words used to replace nouns to avoid repetition or to refer to unspecified people or objects. In Polish, pronouns are highly inflected parts…
06Determiners: DeclensionDeterminers are words placed before a noun to specify which object is being referred to (this, that) or to indicate quantity (some, every, no). In…
07Reflexive Pronoun 'się'The reflexive pronoun się is a versatile word used to indicate that an action reflects back on the subject, or to modify the meaning of a verb. Unlike…
08Nouns: Accusative CaseThe Accusative case is primarily used to mark the direct object of a sentence. If the subject is the person doing the action, the direct object is the…
09Adjectives: DeclensionAdjectives modify nouns to describe qualities or characteristics. In Polish, an adjective must agree with the noun it modifies in three categories:…
10Adjectives: ComparativesAdjectives have three degrees of comparison: the positive (the base form), the comparative (e.g., "faster"), and the superlative (e.g., "fastest"). In…
11Nouns: Genitive CaseThe Genitive case is one of the most frequently used grammatical cases. It primarily corresponds to the English possessive 's or the preposition of. It…
12Active Adjectival ParticiplesActive adjectival participles are words that function as adjectives but are derived from verbs. They describe a noun by the action it is currently…
13Nouns: Vocative CaseThe Vocative case is used exclusively for direct address. Whenever you call someone by name, title, or relationship (like "mom" or "waiter"), the noun…
14Verbs: to be with 'być' and 'to'Polish distinguishes between identifying what something is and describing what role or function it performs. While English uses the verb "to be" for…
15Nouns: Instrumental CaseThe Instrumental case answers the questions "with whom?" (z kim?) or "with what?" (z czym?). It is primarily used to describe the tool used to perform an…
16Nouns: Locative CaseThe locative case is strictly a prepositional case. Unlike other grammatical cases that can function independently, the locative is always preceded by a…
17Perfective vs. Imperfective VerbsSlavic languages distinguish between two aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective. This distinction does not refer to when an action happens (time),…
18Verbs: Imperative MoodThe imperative mood is used to give orders, make requests, offer advice, or issue prohibitions. The formation of the imperative depends on who is being…
19Numbers and CasesPolish numerals have a complex relationship with nouns. The grammatical case of the noun changes depending on the number used to count it. These rules…
20Numerals: Collective FormsCollective numerals are a special set of number forms used to count specific groups of people, animals, or objects. While standard numbers (like dwa,…
21Polite PronounsFormal address requires replacing the standard second-person pronouns (ty for singular "you" and wy for plural "you") with specific nouns. These nouns…
22Relational AdjectivesRelational adjectives are used to classify a noun by describing its relationship to another noun. They indicate what something is made of, where it comes…
23Declension of 'jeden'The word for the number one, jeden, functions grammatically like an adjective. This means it must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it…
24Declension of 'dwa'The number two changes its form significantly depending on the gender of the noun it counts and the grammatical case required by the sentence. Unlike…
25Declension of 'trzy' & 'cztery'The numbers trzy (3) and cztery (4) follow a specific declension pattern that depends entirely on the gender of the noun they describe. Unlike adjectives…
26Verbs: Future TenseIn Polish, forming the future tense depends entirely on the aspect of the verb: whether the action is perfective (completed) or imperfective…
27DiminutivesDiminutives are modified forms of nouns used to convey specific meanings such as smallness, affection, familiarity, or sometimes irony. While they…
28Nouns: AnimacyAnimacy is a grammatical category that classifies nouns based on whether they refer to living beings (humans and animals) or non-living objects. In…
29Passive Adjectival ParticiplesPassive adjectival participles are words derived from verbs that function as adjectives. They describe a noun by indicating an action that has been…
30Nouns: VirilityIn the plural, grammatical gender is simplified into a binary system based on the concept of virility. Instead of masculine, feminine, and neuter, plural…
31Verbal NounsVerbal nouns allow you to treat an action or a process as a physical object or concept. While they are derived from verbs, they function grammatically as…
32Verbs: Past TenseTo form the past tense in Polish, you generally replace the infinitive ending -ć with a specific suffix. Unlike English, where the verb remains the same…
33Verbs: Conditional MoodThe conditional mood is used to express hypothetical situations, wishes, or polite requests. It corresponds directly to the English auxiliary verb…
34Contemporary Adverbial ParticiplesContemporary adverbial participles describe an additional action that happens at the same time as the main verb. They function like adverbs, modifying…
35Pronouns: Accusative CaseWhen a pronoun is the direct object of a verb (the person or thing receiving the action), it takes the Accusative form. Most personal pronouns have two…
36Pronouns: Dative CaseThe Dative case marks the indirect object — the person something is given to, done for, or directed at. Like the Accusative, most pronouns have a…
37Pronouns: Genitive CasePronoun Genitive forms appear in three main situations: after negated verbs (where the Accusative switches to Genitive), after prepositions that require…
38Pronouns: Instrumental CaseThe pronoun Instrumental forms are used after the preposition z (with) to express accompaniment, and after verbs that govern the Instrumental case (like…
39Pronouns: Locative CaseThe Locative case is used after prepositions that describe location or topic: o (about), w (in), na (on/at), po (after), and przy (near/by). Like the…
40Nouns: Dative CaseThe Dative case marks the indirect object — the person or thing something is given to, told to, or done for. It answers the question komu? (to whom?) or…