Polski — Masculine noun declension
Polish masculine nouns change their form across seven cases in both the singular and the plural. The endings partly depend on animacy: personal nouns like student and pan behave differently from inanimate ones like stół, especially in the accusative and the nominative plural.
How it works
For inanimate nouns the accusative singular equals the nominative (widzę stół), while for animate and personal nouns it equals the genitive (widzę studenta, widzę pana). In the plural, masculine personal nouns take a special nominative (studenci, panowie) and an accusative equal to the genitive (widzę studentów), whereas inanimate nouns keep the accusative equal to the nominative (stoły).
Full paradigm
| Case | student — personal | stół — inanimate |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | student / studenci | stół / stoły |
| Genitive | studenta / studentów | stołu / stołów |
| Dative | studentowi / studentom | stołowi / stołom |
| Accusative | studenta / studentów | stół / stoły |
| Instrumental | studentem / studentami | stołem / stołami |
| Locative | studencie / studentach | stole / stołach |
| Vocative | studencie / studenci | stole / stoły |
Good to know
Watch the masculine personal plural: only masculine personal nouns take the special nominative (studenci, panowie, never *studenty) and use the genitive form as accusative (widzę studentów, panów). Many stems also soften before an -e ending, e.g. student → studencie in the locative and vocative singular, and stół → stole.