Cases in use: the joyful genitive
Mar 07
When it comes to exploring the wonderful world of Polish cases, you have to find your way around two broad areas: how to decline the words – which boils down to memorizing the appropriate tables – and, more importantly, when to use which case. This is not always straightforward; for example, even if you know from other languages that the genitive expresses possesion, and that the accusative marks the direct object, you’ll still find Polish abounding with surprises. Certain verbs and prepositions take certain cases for no apparent reason (unless you have a PhD in the history of slavic languages, but then you’re not reading this – hopefully), so you’ll just have to suck it up.
That’s why I’ve decided to embark on this little quest to describe the use of cases. We’ll start today by looking at the genitive.
Units of measure
kawałek chleba
a piece of bread
butelka wody
a bottle of water
pół roku
half a year
Possession and belonging
zabawka chłopca
the boy’s toy
oczy kobiety
the woman’s eyes
ogon kota
the cat’s tail
Direct object in negative sentences
Nie czytam tej książki.
I’m not reading this book.
Nie mam przyjaciół.
I don’t have friends.
Nie lubimy kawy.
We don’t like coffee.
Nie otwieram drzwi.
I’m not opening the door.
With certain verbs
(Note that the genitive is used both in negative and positive sentences)
bać się – to be afraid of
Boimy się burzy.
We’re afraid of the storm.
Nie bój się psa.
Don’t be afraid of the dog.
potrzebować – to need
Potrzebuję pomocy.
I need help.
Nie potrzebujemy pieniędzy.
We don’t need money.
nienawidzić – to hate
Nienawidzę gramatyki.
I hate grammar.
Nienawidzimy długich lekcji.
We hate long lessons.
uczyć się – to learn, to study
Uczę się polskiego.
I’m learning Polish.
Nie uczymy się innych języków.
We don’t study other languages.
słuchać – to listen
Słuchamy muzyki.
We listen to music.
Słucham wykładu.
I’m listening to the lecture.
szukać – to search, to look for
Szukam nowej pracy.
I’m searching for a new job.
Szukamy przyjaciół.
We’re looking for friends.
After certain prepositions
bez – without
kawa bez mleka
coffee without milk
herbata bez cukru
tea without sugar
dziecko bez matki
a child without a mother
mężczyzna bez nogi
a man without a leg
z – from, out of
Jestem z Polski.
I’m from Poland.
Mój brat wrócił z Warszawy.
My brother came back from Warsaw.
Stół zrobiony jest z drewna.
The table is made out of wood.
With numbers 5 and above
pięć kobiet
five women
sześć ptaków
six birds
sto lat
a hundred years
dwieście książek
two hundred books
Apr 02 at 12:38
I must admit that I find your note rather confusing.. To start with you probably should write down the endings that the particular nouns take (e.g. femine singular nouns take the ending -y/-i etc.) Additionally you listed the example with an adjective ‘polski’ inbetween the examples with nouns so that one of the endings listed is completely different to the other ones (-ego). You forgot to mention that adjectives take different endings to nouns. I’m Polish and it took me a few seconds before I realised this myself, I wonder how foreigners are to learn anything from this… Also the information you listed about numbers is wrong – in fact cardinal numbers from 5-21, 15-31 etc. are followed by Genitive Plural but say 22 (which is in fact above 5) is never followed by Genitive case… Not to mention there are more prepositions and verbs Genitive goes with but I understand you cannot possibly list all of them on here. However, as I clearly showed, your note is useless, includes mistakes and is simply confusing. I can’t imagine how anybody could learn anything from it – no wonder foreigners think Polish is such a difficult language if we are lacking good teachers. Cheers!