Polish grammar rules in plain words
Polish grammar rules
·
Personal pronouns in Polish: go or jego, cię or ciebie, do niego, z nią
The words "I", "you", "he" in Polish have many forms, and we most often see them not in the nominative but in the oblique cases: "I'll see you", "I'll...
Polish grammar rules
·
Verbs and their cases in Polish: szukam pracy, pomagam koledze, czekam na autobus
A learner of Polish quickly notices that words are similar but the cases after verbs are not always. In English we "look for work" with a preposition;...
Polish grammar rules
·
Addressing people in Polish: Panie Marku, Pani Anno, Aniu — the vocative
Poles are very attentive to forms of address. Your first day at a new job: you walk into the manager's office and say "Dzień dobry, Marek". For a Pole...
Polish grammar rules
·
Comparatives and superlatives in Polish: lepszy, tańszy, najlepszy, im więcej — tym więcej
When looking for work we compare all the time: "a higher rate", "closer to home", "an easier shift", "the best offer". In Polish these words are forme...
Polish grammar rules
·
Telling the time in Polish: która godzina, o której, od–do, w poniedziałek
At an interview, in a shift schedule and even in a text from your manager you quickly find out that you have to read the clock in Polish. You are told...
Polish grammar rules
·
Dates in Polish: dziesiątego października, w 2026 roku and ordinal numbers
A contract "od pierwszego listopada", pay "do dziesiątego dnia miesiąca", a medical check "dwudziestego trzeciego października". You meet dates in Pol...
Polish grammar rules
·
Iść or chodzić, jechać or jeździć: Polish verbs of motion without the confusion
English gets by with "go", "walk", "drive" and "ride", and one verb often serves both a single trip and a habit. Polish does not. It has pairs: iść — ...
Polish grammar rules
·
Negation in Polish: nie together or apart, nic nie wiem and nigdy nie byłem
For English speakers the Polish rules of negation look odd at first: in English "I don't know anything" has one negative, and a double negative is con...
Polish grammar rules
·
The little word się: how it works in Polish — nazywam się, uczę się, boję się
Of all the short words in Polish, się is the trickiest. English has "myself" and "oneself", but in Polish the little word się is used far more often, ...
Polish grammar rules
·
Polish cases on one page: questions, examples and the traps learners fall into
For English speakers, Polish cases are the scariest part of the language: seven of them, each noun changing its ending depending on its role in the se...
Polish grammar rules
·
Polish spelling for foreigners: ó or u, rz or ż, ch or h, and the nasal ą, ę
Poles call it "spelling hell" and make mistakes in dictations themselves. One sound, two spellings: "u" and "ó" are pronounced the same, so are "rz" a...
Polish grammar rules
·