Polski — the dative case
The dative (celownik) answers komu? / czemu? (to whom? / to what?). It marks the recipient of an action — dawać komuś (to give to someone), pomagać komuś (to help someone) — and the person who experiences a state, as in jest mi zimno (I feel cold).
How it works
Endings by gender: most masculine nouns take -owi (syn → synowi, koń → koniowi), a small closed group takes -u (pan → panu, kot → kotu, pies → psu, chłopiec → chłopcu). Feminine nouns take -e with a hard stem (siostra → siostrze, żona → żonie) or -i / -y with a soft stem (ciocia → cioci, noc → nocy). Neuter nouns take -u (dziecko → dziecku, okno → oknu). The plural ending is -om for all genders (dzieciom, kobietom, panom).
Endings and examples
| Gender / ending | Nominative → dative |
|---|---|
| masculine -owi | brat → bratu (irregular), nauczyciel → nauczycielowi |
| masculine -u (short group) | pan → panu, pies → psu, chłopiec → chłopcu |
| feminine -e (hard stem) | siostra → siostrze, żona → żonie |
| feminine -i / -y (soft stem) | ciocia → cioci, noc → nocy |
| neuter -u | dziecko → dziecku, okno → oknu |
| plural -om (all genders) | dzieci → dzieciom, kobiety → kobietom, panowie → panom |
| personal pronouns | ja → mi/mnie, ty → ci/tobie, on → mu/jemu, my → nam, oni → im |
Good to know
In impersonal experiencer phrases the person stays in the dative and there is no subject in the nominative: jest mi zimno (I feel cold), nie, not "jestem zimny"; źle mi (I feel bad), smutno jej (she feels sad). Short pronoun forms (mi, ci, mu) are the everyday default; the long forms (mnie, tobie, jemu) are used for emphasis or at the start of a clause: Mnie się to nie podoba.