Declension of 'trzy' & 'cztery'

01

The Two Main Categories

To choose the correct form of the number, you must identify the group you are counting.

• Male Human (Virile): Use this form when the group contains at least one male person (e.g., men, boys, mixed groups of men and women). The stem takes the ending -ech in the Nominative case.
• All Others (Non-Virile): Use this form for everything else, including women, children, animals, and inanimate objects. This is the basic form found in dictionaries (trzy, cztery).

• Trzy kobiety rozmawiają.

  Three women are talking. (Non-Virile)

• Trzech mężczyzn rozmawia.

  Three men are talking. (Male Human)

02

Nominative and Accusative Cases

These are the most frequently used cases. The form changes based on the category mentioned above.

For "All Others" (Non-Virile)

The Nominative and Accusative forms are identical to the basic number.

• Widzę cztery koty.

  I see four cats.

• To są trzy okna.

  These are three windows.

For "Male Human" (Virile)

The Nominative and Accusative forms take the ending -ech.

• Znam tych czterech aktorów.

  I know those four actors.

• Trzech chłopców gra w piłkę.

  Three boys are playing football.

03

Declension for Other Cases

For the remaining cases (Genitive, Dative, Instrumental, Locative), the endings are attached to the stems trz- and czter-. Note that in these oblique cases, the distinction between "Male Human" and "All Others" often disappears or behaves consistently.

Genitive & Locative (-ech)

Both the Genitive (indicating possession or quantity) and Locative (used after prepositions like o or w) use the ending -ech.

• Nie ma tu trzech krzeseł.

  There aren't three chairs here.

• Myślę o czterech problemach.

  I am thinking about four problems.

Dative (-em)

The Dative case (indicating the recipient) uses the ending -em.

• Przyglądam się tym trzem obrazom.

  I am looking closely at these three paintings.

• Dałem jedzenie czterem psom.

  I gave food to four dogs.

Instrumental (-ema)

The Instrumental case (indicating "with" or "by means of") uses the unique ending -ema. This is distinct from the standard noun plural ending -ami.

• Idę z trzema kolegami.

  I am walking with three friends.

• Stół z czterema nogami.

  A table with four legs.

04

Verb Agreement with Male Human Subjects

There is a crucial syntactic difference when using these numbers as the subject of a sentence.

• With "All Others": The verb is plural.

• Trzy samochody stoją tam.

  Three cars are standing there.

• With "Male Human": When the number takes the form trzech or czterech in the subject position, the verb usually takes the singular neuter form (or 3rd person singular).

• Trzech studentów czekało na egzamin.

  Three students were waiting for the exam.

• Czterech panów tu mieszka.

  Four gentlemen live here.