The Genitive Case (Dopełniacz) in Polish

Benjamin Paddags Published: 2024-10-30
Updated: 2024-11-26

The genitive case, or dopełniacz, is one of the most versatile cases in Polish. It plays a role in possession, negation, quantities, and is often used with prepositions. This chapter will cover the uses, formation rules, and provide memory aids for mastering the genitive.

1. When to Use the Genitive Case

The genitive case has several primary functions:

• Possession: Used to show ownership or association, similar to of or 's in English.

  • książka Anny ("Anna's book").

• Negation: Used when negating sentences in the accusative case.

  • Nie mam czasu ("I don’t have time").

• Quantities and Measures: Used with numbers and quantities, particularly after words like dużo (much, a lot), mało (little), and after numbers greater than 1 that don't end in dwa, trzy or cztery (this is still oversimplified. Special rules apply for male nouns. Sorry, Polish numbers are a mess. Best way is to expose yourself to a bunch of Polish and you will slowly start to feel what sounds right).

  • wiele/5/12/21 książek ("many/5/12/21 books"). But: 2/4/22/163 książki

• Certain Prepositions: Often used with prepositions such as bez (without), dla (for), do (to, until), od (from), z/ze (from, out of).

  • bez cukru ("without sugar").

2. Forming the Genitive Case

The genitive case endings vary by gender. Here are the typical endings for singular and plural forms:

Masculine Nouns

• Animate (people, animals):

  • Singular: Add -a to masculine nouns that refer to animate beings.
    • pies → psa ("dog").
  • Plural: Often add -ów.
    • kot → kotów ("cats").

• Inanimate:

  • Singular: Usually add -u.
    • stół → stołu ("table").
  • Plural: Often add -ów.
    • dom → domów ("houses").

Feminine Nouns

• Singular: Often change -a to -y or -i (if the stem ends in a soft consonant like k or g).
  • kobieta → kobiety ("woman").
  • książka → książki ("book").
• Plural: Most words drop the final -a. If the word already doesn't have it, add -y / -i instead.
  • kobieta → kobiet ("women").
  • odpowiedź → odpowiedzi ("answer").

Neuter Nouns

• Singular: End in -a.
  • okno → okna ("window").
• Plural: Most words drop the final vowel. If that's slightly hard to pronounce, you might have to add in an extra e:
  • serce → serc ("heart").
  • jajko→jajek ("egg")
  • Exception: dziecko → dzieci ("children").

Plurals

Adjectives referring to plural nouns mostly end in -ych/-ich, regardless of gender. So easy, yay!

• • dużo ciekawych książek ("many interesting books")

3. Adjectives in the Genitive Case

Adjectives in the genitive must match the noun’s gender and number. Here are the common endings:

Masculine and Neuter Adjectives

• Change -y to -ego.
  • dobry → dobrego ("good").

Feminine Adjectives

• Change -a to -ej.
  • dobra → dobrej ("good").

Example Usage

• bez dobrego kota ("without a good cat") - masculine
• do dobrej kobiety ("to a good woman") - feminine

4. Memory Aids for the Genitive Case

• Possession Reminder: Think "Genitive = 'of'". When you express something belonging to someone or a part of a whole, use the genitive.
• Negation Cue: If negating a statement, switch the accusative form to genitive.
• Quantity Rule: When dealing with quantities or most numbers, use genitive. "How many of x?"

Now give yourself some time to spot the patterns in real texts (e.g. using LanGam, where genitive words are highlighted in the second chapter) and the genitive will be a piece of cake!
Got the gist of it? Let’s continue with the past tense!

The Past Tense in Polish (Czas Przeszły)

Learn how to speak about the past in Polish in this chapter of my grammar guide for Polish.